UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 
SANTA    CRUZ 


AUBREY  DRURY 


CORNELIUS   VANDERBILT. 
(From  a  portrait  by  Brady.) 


MEN   OF   ACHIEVEMENT 


MEN   OF    BUSINESS 


BY 

WILLIAM    O,   STODDARD 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 
1893 


COPYRIGHT,  1893,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TROW  DIRECTORY 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK 


PREFACE 

THE  road  to  success  in  business  is  not  a  nar- 
row, hedged-in  highway.  It  is  not  even  one 
road,  but  many  pathways,  each  of  which  may  be 
followed  across  the  great  field  of  life,  if  entered 
by  the  type  of  human  character  adapted  to  it. 
The  types  are  varied,  and  often  they  are  blended. 
Any  profitable  study  of  them,  however,  can  be 
best  performed  by  selecting  a  few  distinct  and 
marked  examples.  This  has  been  attempted  in 
a  series  of  brief  character  sketches  of  eminently 
successful  careers,  each  emphasizing  some  domi- 
nant trait,  It  has  been  deemed  well  to  employ 
the  portraits  of  the  living  as  well  as  of  those 
whose  work  is  finished.  It  is  somewhat  like  a 
gallery,  therefore,  in  which  are  presented  like- 
nesses of  the  warrior,  the  statesman,  the  diplo- 
matist, the  artist,  the  pioneer,  the  adventurer, 
the  inventor,  the  explorer,  the  organizer,  the 
foreseer,  and  other  types  of  business  men  whose 
success  is  beyond  dispute. 

The  materials  for  these  biographical  studies 
have  been  obtained,  as  far  as  possible,  from  orig- 
inal sources,  including  valuable  data  never  be- 
fore printed.  With  a  large  majority  of  the  men 
selected,  the  author  has  been  personally  ac- 
quainted, and  has  drawn  them  from  the  life. 


4  PREFACE 

He  has  done  so  in  the  belief  that  each  of  these 
business  careers,  presented  in  outline,  contains 
invaluable  lessons  for  those  who  are  willing  to 
take  them,  and  also  that  there  is  no  more  honor- 
able, useful,  enjoyable  path  in  life  for  young  am- 
bition than  that  of  the  American  business  man. 

WILLIAM  O.  STODDARD. 


CONTENTS 

PACK 

I.  JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR — Romance, 9 

II.  CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT — Competition,  +        .      31 

III.  CHARLES  Louis  TIFFANY — Taste,      ,        .  -53 

IV.  JOHN  ROACH — Genius,        .        .        .        .        .        -75 
V.  LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON — Development,      ...       94 

VI.  EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN — Variety,         .        .        ,     in 

VII.  CYRUS  WEST  "FIELD— Tenacity,         ....     131 

VIII.  CHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW — Growth,  .        .        .161 

IX.  ALEXANDER  TURNEY  STEWART — Perception,     .        .182 

X.  PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR — Organization,      .        .197 

XI.  HORACE  BRIGHAM  CLAFLIN — Liberality,    .        .         .212 

XII.  MARSHALL  OWEN  ROBERTS — Dash,  ....    229 

XIII.  GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN — Originality,      .        .     246 

XIV.  PETER  COOPER — Invention, 264 

XV.   MARSHALL  FIELD — Business  Principles,     .        .         .281 

XVI.  LELAND  STANFORD — Councillor,        ....     295 


LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


FULL-PAGE   ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 

CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT,      .        \         .          {Frontispiece.}    PAGE 

JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR, 9 

CHARLES  Louis  TIFFANY, 53 

JOHN  ROACH, 75 

LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON,      .......      94 

EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN,          >. in 

CYRUS  WEST  FIELD,    .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .131 

CHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW,    .         .        .        .        .        .161 

PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR, 197 

HORACE  BRIGHAM  CLAFLIN, 212 

MARSHALL  OWEN  ROBKRTS,        ......     229 

GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN, 246 

PETER  COOPER, 264 

MARSHALL  FIELD,        •      .  < 281 

LELAND  STANFORD,  '  , 296 

ILLUSTRATIONS   IN   THE   TEXT 

PAGE 

NEW  YORK  WHEN  ASTOR  FIRST  SAW  IT,  16 

CHOTEAU'S  POND— NOW  IN  ST.  Louis,       ....  23 

HARLEM  PLAINS, 26 

STATUE  OF  CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT,  .        .        ....  33 

ONE  OF  THE  EARLY  STEAMBOATS,      .        .        .        •        •  37 

SAN  FRANCISCO  IN  1848, 40 

THE  VANDERBILT, 45 


8  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

*AGE 

MR.  TIFFANY  WHEN  TWENTY-EIGHT  YEARS  OF  AGE,        .  57 

THE  TIFFANY  STORE  OPPOSITE  CITY  HALL,      ...  58 
THE  STORE  ON  THE  CORNER  OF  BROADWAY  AND  CHAMBERS 

STREET  IN  1847, 64 

THE  THIRD    AVENUE  HARLEM    BRIDGE,  BUILT  BY  JOHN 

ROACH  IN  1864,     ........  85 

THE  U.  S.  CRUISER  CHICAGO  AT  SEA,       ....  90 

THE  OLD  MORTON  HOME  AT  MIDDLEBORO,  MASS.,  .        .  96 
ELLERSLIE,    MR.  MORTON'S  COUNTRY   HOME  AT   RHINE- 

CLIFF-ON-HUDSON,  N.  Y., Io8 

GOVERNOR  MORGAN'S  MOTHER  (FROM  AN  OLD  MINIATURE),  112 

THE  OLD  MORGAN  HOMESTEAD  AT  WINDSOR,  CONN.,      .  115 
BED  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  OCEAN  THROUGH  THE  CAPE  VERD 

ISLANDS,  AZORES,  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH  PLATEAU,      .  136 
THE  GREAT  EASTERN  LAYING  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE,      .  153 
LANDING  SHORE  END  OF  THE  CABLE  AT   HEART'S   CON- 
TENT, NEWFOUNDLAND, 155 

SHORE  END  OF  CABLE— EXACT  SIZE, 158 

THE  WHOLESALE  STORE  OF  A.  T.  STEWART  &  Co.,  BUILT 

IN  1848, 189 

MR.    STEWART'S    HOUSE,    THIRTY -FOURTH    STREET    AND 

FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 194 

MEMORIAL  CHURCH  AT  GARDEN  CITY,       ....  196 

THE  "PIONEER"  SLEEPING-CAR, 253 

A  VIEW  OF  PULLMAN,  ILL.,         ......  261 

TRIAL   BETWEEN    PETER    COOPER'S    LOCOMOTIVE    "TOM 
THUMB  "  AND  ONE  OF  STOCKTON'S  AND  STOKES'  HORSE 

CARS, 271 

PETER  COOPER'S  LOCOMOTIVE,  1829, 273 

ARCHITECTURAL  MOTIF  OF  THE  BUILDINGS  AT   STANFORD 

UNIVERSITY,          .         .         .         .         .        .         .         .  305 

VIEW  OF  THE  BUILDINGS  COMPRISING  THE  LELAND  STAN- 
FORD, JR.,  UNIVERSITY,  PALO  ALTO,  CAL.,  .        .      310-311 

THE  INNER  QUADRANGLE,  STANFORD  UNIVERSITY,    .        .  313 

NORTHEAST  TOWER,  STANFORD  UNIVERSITY,    .        .        .  315 


John  Jacob  Astor. 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


JOHN   JACOB    ASTOR. 

THE  long  romance  of  the  world's  commerce 
is  like  a  picture-gallery.  The  earlier  pictures 
are  oriental,  but  the  gallery  leads  westward. 
Here  and  there,  at  intervals,  there  are  striking 
changes  in  scenery,  races,  costumes,  and  mer- 
chandise. Instead  of  being  a  record  of  com- 
monplace money-getting,  it  is  full  of  wonderful 
stories  of  dreams  which  the  dreamers  undertook 
to  realize.  They  went  out  through  the  Medi- 
terranean in  the  galleys  of  Tyre  and  Carthage, 
and  they  sailed  down  the  Red  Sea,  no  one  knows 
how  far,  in  the  ships  of  the  merchant  king  Sol- 
omon. The  dreamers  were  mostly  mere  boys, 
full  of  the  hot  enthusiasms  of  youth,  but  few  of 
them  ceased  from  their  fascinated  gaze  into  the 
future,  the  distant,  the  new,  until  age  and  the 
end  drew  the  curtain  before  their  eyes. 

One  of  these  visionary  boys,  who  could  not 
stay  at  home  nor  be  contented  with  surround- 
ings which  had  satisfied  his  ancestors,  accom- 
plished remarkable  things.  Among  others,  John 


10  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Jacob  Astor  won  a  fortune,  founded  a  family, 
aided  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  growth  of 
a  city  and  a  nation,  and  left  behind  him  ideas 
Avhich  were  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  third  genera- 
tipn. 

He  was  the  fourth  son  of  the  highly  respecta- 
ble village  butcher  at  Waldorf,  near  Heidelberg, 
Germany,  and  several  members  of  the  family 
had  already  exhibited  unusual  ability  and  enter- 
prise. The  generation  to  which  he  belonged  (he 
was  born  July  17,  1763)  had  shown  even  more 
than  had  its  predecessors  that  vigorous  vital- 
ity which  has  enabled  the  old  German  stock  to 
do  so  much  both  for  the  Old  World  and  the 
New. 

There  were  schools  in  Waldorf.  German 
youths  of  good  families  were  by  no  means 
brought  up  in  ignorance.  There  were  facili- 
ties for  higher  education  not  altogether  out  of 
reach ;  but  these  were  to  be  sought,  as  a  rule, 
by  those  Avho  looked  forward  to  lives  of  profes- 
sional scholarship.  Most  avenues  for  advance- 
ment were  shut  by  caste  and  privilege,  and  the 
old  order  of  things,  from  aspirants  unsustained 
by  wealth  or  hereditary  rank.  The  Waldorf  ho- 
rizon seemed  very  limited  to  the  eyes  of  a  boy 
who  felt  that  he  was  capable  of  better  things 
than  supplying  sausages  and  the  like  to  a  frugal 
and  unambitious  neighborhood.  It  was  indeed  a 
quiet  place  ;  but,  as  the  boy  grew  older,  its  still- 
ness was  continually  broken  by  war  news,  the 
reports  of  battles,  stories  of  the  sharp,  sanguin- 
ary struggles  which  marked  the  last  quarter  of 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR  11 

the  eighteenth  century.  There  was  a  begin- 
ning of  varied  activities  throughout  Europe,  and 
especially  in  Germany,  from  which  wonderful 
fruits  were  to  come  in  the  first  decades  of  the 
next  century.  There  was  to  be  a  vastly  changed 
condition  of  things  after  the  long  convulsions  of 
the  Napoleonic  wars,  but  very  little  that  was 
new  could  as  yet  be  seen  in  Waldorf. 

Young  Astor  was  a  thoughtful  boy,  a  reader 
of  books,  with  literary  tastes  which  were  one 
day  to  find  expression  in  a  form  that  is  endur- 
ingly  useful.  At  the  same  time  he  was  full  of 
a  fire  of  adventure  which  utterly  forbade  his 
contenting  himself  with  the  seemingly  tame  suc- 
cesses of  scholarship.  It  was  well  for  him  that 
against  this  fire  contended  an  uncommon  degree 
of  sturdy  German  prudence.  His  phenomenal 
motive  power  required,  and  was  provided  with, 
a  remarkably  heavy  balance-wheel. 

Remaining  in  Waldorf  was  out  of  the  question 
for  such  a  boy,  and,  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  he 
was  on  his  way  to  London.  There  might  have 
seemed  something  chimerical  in  the  idea  of  add- 
ing one  more  human  atom  to  the  swarms  of  an 
already  crowded  hive ;  but  the  mere  means  of 
earning  a  living  had  been  made  ready  for  him. 
An  uncle  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Astor 
&  Broadwood,  manufacturers  of  pianos  and 
Other  musical  instruments,  and  Henry  Astor,  an 
older  brother  of  John  Jacob,  was  already  in  the 
employ  of  that  concern.  Under  the  name  of 
Broadwood  &  Co.  it  afterward  attained  wide 
reputation  and  importance,  but  at  this  early  date 


12  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

its  business  was  limited.  It  could  offer  no  pros- 
pect whatever  for  the  future  of  a  very  ambitious 
young  adventurer  from  Waldorf.  It  could  give 
him  something  to  do,  for  a  while,  however,  and 
he  could  learn  lessons  in  business,  acquire  the 
English  language,  hear  all  the  news  that  came  to 
London,  grow  taller,  stronger,  and  make  up  his 
mind  as  to  the  direction  of  his  next  step  forward. 

The  arrival  in  London  was  made  at  a  time 
when  the  thoughts  of  all  England,  and  indeed  of 
all  Europe,  were  concentrated  upon  the  chang- 
ing fortunes  of  the  war  for  the  independence  of 
the  British  colonies  in  America.  Very  little  was 
known,  even  in  England,  of  the  real  state  of 
things  in  these  colonies  ;  but  before  the  eyes  of 
the  Old  World  monarchies  a  young  republic, 
unlike  any  that  had  been  seen  before,  was  fight- 
ing its  way  into  life  and  a  place  among  nations. 
All  the  young  men  on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic 
were  taking  sides  for  or  against  the  western 
phenomenon,  and  the  fact  that  they  did  so 
changed  the  future  of  the  world. 

Nevertheless,  if  any  youthful  resident  of  Lon- 
don had  in  his  mind  a  dream  of  adventure  in  the 
New  World,  he  was  compelled  to  wait  for  the 
day  of  its  realization,  since  all  the  seas  were  held 
by  the  vigilant  cruisers  of  Great  Britain.  At 
last,  and  almost  unexpectedly,  the  long  war 
came  to  a  close,  and  commercial  communication 
with  America  was  imperfectly  opened  in  1782. 
It  was  by  no  means  safe  or  regular  until  long 
after  the  formal  declaration  of  peace,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1783;  but  in  the  summer  of  the  latter  year 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR  13 

it  was  understood  that  emigrants  from  England 
would  have  a  fair  prospect  of  landing  in  Amer- 
ica. It  was  only  a  decent  probability  as  com- 
pared with  the  Atlantic  ferry  service  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  and  not  a  large  number  were  found  with 
-sufficient  courage  to  take  the  risk. 

Among  those  who  were  ready  was  young 
Astor,  now  a  stalwart  young  man  of  twenty. 
The  ship  which  carried  him  sailed  for  Baltimore 
at  a  date  when  the  British  fleet  and  army  still 
lingered  in  possession  of  the  city  and  harbor  of 
New  York.  As  to  definite  plans  or  purposes,  he 
could  fairly  have  said  that  he  did  not  have  any. 
He  had  left  London  behind  him,  and  there  was  a 
new  hope  thrilling  him  as  he  looked  westward, 
but  that  was  all.  England,  exhausted  by  long 
wars  and  all  but  crushed  by  taxation,  was  having 
exceedingly  hard  times,  and  there  was  nothing 
lost  by  getting  away  from  her.  It  was  said  that 
the  colonies  also  were  in  a  bad  condition  ;  but 
they  seemed  to  offer  a  continent,  not  a  mere  isl- 
and, for  a  boy  to  become  of  age  in. 

It  was  a  long,  slow,  tedious  sailing  voyage,  but 
it  had  better  fortune  than  many  another  that  was 
undertaken  during  the  perilous  summer  of  1783. 
The  ship  suffered  no  molestation  from  cruisers, 
nor  from  privateers,  and  her  passengers  saw  noth- 
ing of  the  pirates  which  were  then  the  grisly 
terror  of  the  high  seas.  The  passage  was  not 
even  notably  stormy,  but  it  was  nevertheless 
eventful  for  John  Jacob  Astor.  On  board  the 
ship  was  a  furrier  from  America,  with  whom  an 
acquaintance  was  formed  during  the  dull  days 


14  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

of  tacking  westward.  His  previous  experiences 
had  made  him  well  acquainted  with  all  the  ins 
and  outs  of  the  adventurous  calling  which  sup- 
plied his  stock  in  trade.  The  whale-fishery  it- 
self could  not  supply  more  materials  for  quar- 
ter-deck yarns  than  did  the  winter  tramps  of  the 
trappers  among  the  red  men  of  the  American 
wilderness.  He  could  tell,  too,  of  the  haunts  and 
ways  of  fur-bearing  animals,  and  he  knew  the 
prices  paid  for  raw  furs  and  the  profits  to  be 
made  in  preparing  these  for  European  markets. 
Much  information  was  also  given,  incidentally, 
concerning  the  claims  and  exactions  of  the  Brit- 
ish Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  the  probable 
changes  which  would  follow  the  establishment 
of  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  with  a 
boundary  along  the  old  Canadian  and  great  lakes 
line.  It  was  evident  that  New  York  City,  as 
soon  as  its  British  garrison  should  leave  it,  would 
hold  a  very  excellent  position  with  reference  to 
the  fur  trade  of  the  future,  and  a  new  idea  of  the 
life  before  him  grew  in  the  fervid  imagination  of 
the  young  German. 

It  was  true  that  he  had  no  capital  with  which 
to  start  in  the  fur  business.  He  knew  nothing  at 
all  about  handling  furs.  Slowly  and  with  diffi- 
culty he  had  hoarded  the  money  which  -had  paid 
his  passage,  and  he  now  had  with  him  on  the  ship 
nothing  but  a  small  invoice  of  flutes  and  other 
musical  instruments,  which  he  hoped  to  sell  in 
America  on  commission.  This  business  he  still 
proposed  to  do,  but  only  as  a  stepping-stone,  for 
he  saw  that  his  other  enterprise  would  require 


JOHN  JACOB  AST  OR  15 

both  patience  and  a  kind  of  technical  education. 
As  soon  as  possible,  after  landing  in  Baltimore, 
he  worked  his  way,  economically,  to  New  York, 
and  it  was  a  pretty  long  journey  then.  Good 
care  was  taken  for  making  honest  returns  to  his 
principals  in  London,  so  that  they  were  afterward 
glad  to  continue  business  relations  with  their 
American  correspondent.  Exceedingly  distinct, 
indeed,  was  his  idea  that  he  was  now  an  Ameri- 
can, and  that  he  had  come  to  build  up  with  the 
expansion  of  the  new  republic. 

On  reaching  New  York  he  found  all  that  the 
war  had  left  of  the  young  city  still  suffering 
under  the  long  palsies  of  a  semi-besieged  garri- 
son town  cut  off  from  trade,  year  after  year, 
and  destitute  of  manufactures.  It  was  a  forlorn 
place,  excepting  for  its  evident  natural  advan- 
tages. As  for  the  country  at  large,  the  old  colo- 
nies were  now  States,  but  not  yet  a  Union,  and 
the  new  government  was  anything  but  firmly 
settled.  There  was  almost  no  money  in  circula- 
tion, and  trade  was  reduced,  mainly,  to  its  primi- 
tive form  of  barter. 

The  interior  of  New  York  State,  very  recently 
redeemed  from  the  savage  domination  of  the 
Iroquois,  was  an  exceedingly  rich  fur-bearing  re- 
gion, and  its  red  hunters  and  trappers  were  no 
longer  the  allies  or  agents  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  however  diligently  that  corporation 
might  thenceforward  compete  for  their  peltry. 
It  had  by  no  means  consented  to  give  up  its  hold 
upon  its  old  channels  of  supply  from  within  the 
American  frontier,  however.  All  along  the  bor~ 


16 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


der  and  the  lakes,  to  the  fort  it  had  built  at  the 
foot  of  Lake  Michigan,  it  maintained  strong 
posts,  garrisoned  by  British  troops,  which  it  re- 
fused to  surrender  until  thirty  years  later,  and  at 
the  end  of  another  war. 

Astor  found  a  furrier  in  New  York,  a  Quaker, 
to  whom  he  hired  himself  for  such  wages  as  he 
could  get,  that  he  might  earn  a  livelihood  while 


New  York 


Astor  first  saw   it. 


picking  up  the  trade.  He  was  serving  a  hard 
apprenticeship,  with  a  fixed  determination  of 
becoming  a  master  and  something  more.  He 
worked  on,  patiently,  all  the  while  acquiring 
stores  of  general  information  concerning  the  fur 
geography  of  the  American  interior,  its  Indian 
tribes,  its  trappers  and  traders  and  their  ways. 
By  rigid  economy  and  by  some  small  trading  of 
his  own  he  made  out  to  lay  up  a  little  money 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR  17 

while  learning  how  to  buy  and  handle  furs.  He 
had  very  moderate  help,  too,  from  his  intermit- 
tent relations  with  the  musical-instrument  busi- 
ness, although  there  was  little  enough  to  be  done 
in  that  line  in  New  York  during  the  first  years 
of  its  poverty  after  the  War  of  Independence. 

The  business  and  finances  of  the  entire  coun- 
try were  still  in  a  terribly  unsettled  condition 
when  John  Jacob  Astor  was  at  last  able  to  open 
a  little  shop,  on  Water  Street,  begin  to  buy  furs 
on  his  own  account,  put  them  into  marketable 
shape,  and  dispose  of  them  as  occasion  might 
offer.  The  national  government  itself  seemed 
still  upon  a  doubtful  basis.  There  was  no  bank- 
ing system,  State  or  national.  The  flag  of  the 
republic  with  difficulty  maintained  its  uncertain 
position  on  the  seas.  Commerce  could  be  car- 
ried on  only  at  great  risks,  for  the  Old  World 
itself  was  in  an  uproar,  with  only  occasional 
spasms  of  treacherous  peace. 

Means  of  transportation  and  communication 
with  the  interior  were  slow  and  insecure.  The 
best  types  of  conveyance  were  furnished  by  a 
North  River  sloop,  a  Mohawk  Valley  wagon, 
and  a  train  of  ponies  connecting,  when  obtain- 
able, at  the  western  end  of  the  route.  Beyond 
the  ponies  were  the  red  men.  With  these,  tribe 
after  tribe,  there  was  a  kind  of  peace  which  any 
man  venturing  among  them  could  maintain  and 
trust  according  to  his  own  personal  qualifications 
for  dealing  with  them.  Traders  whose  lack  of 
courage,  integrity,  or  knowledge  of  Indian  nat- 
ure, unfitted  them  for  dealing  with  the  awful 
2 


18  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

uncertainties  of  forest  traffic,  were  now  and  then 
seen  to  enter  the  woods,  never  to  return.  Mr. 
Astor  was  not  lacking  in  either  respect,  and, 
during  successive  years  after  his  small  begin- 
ning, the  shop  on  Water  Street  was  at  times 
shut  up,  or  only  occupied  by  an  assistant  able 
to  inform  inquirers  that  its  master  was  away 
in  the  western  wilderness  or  the  northern  moun- 
tains. 

Wherever  his  daring  and  arduous  ventures 
carried  him,  he  continually  found  his  operations 
hindered,  hampered,  often  defeated,  by  the  open 
competition  or  the  secret  and  dangerous  ma- 
chinations- of  the  agents  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company.  He  learned,  as  the  nation  itself  was 
learning,  that  the  first  treaty  of  peace  with  Eng- 
land had  not  secured  a  definite  frontier  on  the 
north,  nor  a  trustworthy  opening  to  the  com- 
merce of  the  great  lakes,  the  West  and  the 
Northwest.  Through  all  he  was  forming  ideas 
of  his  country's  political  future,  the  breadth  and 
soundness  and  forecast  of  which  indicated  the 
mind  of  a  statesman  rather  than  the  keenness  of 
a  mere  trader. 

Concerning  all  the  great  regions  beyond  what 
was  still  regarded  as  the  hunting-grounds  of  the 
Iroquois,  Hurons,  and  a  few  other  tribes,  little 
was  known.  The  men,  of  all  sorts,  with  whom 
Mr.  Astor  was  dealing,  were  as  yet  the  only  ex- 
plorers ;  but  from  them  he  gathered  informa- 
tion with  which  he  was  able  to  put  into  shape, 
gradually,  his  dreams  of  future  enterprises.  It 
was  seen  that  these  must  wait,  for  the  greater 


JOHN  JACOB  AST  OR  11) 

part ;  but  money  enough  had  now  been  accumu- 
lated for  another  step  forward  as  a  merchant. 
This  was  a  voyage  to  England,  to  form  better 
business  connections.  The  most  important  of 
these  were  to  be  made  with  houses  in  the  fur 
trade,  but  he  did  not,  even  now,  surrender  the 
very  first  connection  he  had  formed  after  setting 
out  from  Waldorf.  It  is  an  interesting  exhibi- 
tion of  the  peculiar  tenacity  of  his  character 
that,  while  in  England,  he  arranged  with  Astor 
&  Broadwood  to  become  their  agent  in  Amer- 
ica, besides  receiving  consignments  of  similar 
goods  from  other  concerns.  On  his  return  he 
opened  a  suitable  salesroom  and  became  the 
first  regular  dealer  in  musical  instruments  in  the 
United  States.  He  did  not  on  this  account  give 
any  less  attention  to  his  other  undertakings,  and 
these  were  reaching  out,  in  several  directions, 
beyond  the  fur  business.  An  exceedingly  im- 
portant part  of  them  was  growing  the  more 
rapidly  because  of  the  expansion  of  one  of 
the  peculiar  national  industries.  Nowhere  else 
could  wooden  sailing-vessels  be  built  so  cheaply, 
and  American  shipwrights  were  earning  the 
highest  reputation  for  the  speed  and  stanch- 
ness  of  the  craft  they  were  launching.  The 
prize  to  be  won  was  the  carrying  trade  of  the 
ocean,  and  Mr.  Astor  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
the  American  shipping  interest.  He  not  only 
bought  or  chartered  vessels  to  carry  his  own 
furs,  with  whatever  additional  freights  could  be 
obtained,  but  the  character  of  the  return  cargoes, 
and  his  management  of  them,  speedily  entitled 


20  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

him  to  a  high  rank  among  the  successful  mer- 
chants of  New  York. 

While  keeping  fully  abreast  of  the  swift  march 
of  progress  in  this  direction,  there  was  yet 
another  field  in  which  he  was  presenting  a  dif- 
ferent phase  of  his  business  capacity.  The  will- 
ingness to  take  risks  which  startled  other  men, 
and  the  enthusiastic  faith  in  the  future  which 
seemed  to  spur  him  forward,  seemed  in  him 
entirely  consistent  not  only  with  habits  of 
personal  economy,  but  with  the  most  sagacious 
keenness  in  the  employment  of  surplus  funds. 
He  was  singularly  well  acquainted  with  the 
character  and  resources  of  every  noteworthy 
resident  of  Manhattan  Island.  He  was  there- 
fore better  prepared  than  other  men  to  do  a 
great  deal  of  the  only  kind  of  banking  business 
which,  for  a  time,  the  condition  of  affairs  per- 
mitted. In  so  doing  he  became  an  important 
helper  of  many  other  business  men,  and  it  was 
said  that  he  rarely  lost  money  by  lending  it. 
If  his  profits  were  considerable,  that  is  one  of 
the  well  understood  results  of  judicious  bank- 
ing. 

Mr.  Astor  was  now  a  married  man,  and  he 
was  fond  of  saying  that  although  Sarah  Todd 
brought  him  only  three  hundred  dollars  of 
dowry,  she  brought  him  also  the  best  business 
partner  that  any  man  ever  had.  He  was,  how- 
ever, the  possessor  of  large  wealth,  for  those 
days,  before  he  and  his  wife  thought  it  needful 
to  take  a  dwelling  separate  from  their  place  of 
business.  Mere  display  or  ostentation  formed 


JOHN  JACOB  AST  OH  21 

no  part  of  their  ideal  of  earthly  happiness,  then 
or  afterward,  and  there  was  even  something  of 
political  principle  in  his  own  leaning  toward 
republican  simplicity.  It  was  inevitable  that 
such  a  man  should  exercise  a  wide  influence, 
socially  as  well  as  financially,  and  he  was  vigor- 
ously patriotic. 

In  the  year  1800  there  was  no  other  business 
man  in  New  York  who  was  rated  at  the  huge 
sum  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars.  It  was 
truly  a  tremendous  capital  with  which  to  begin 
the  business  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  it 
was  a  good  time  for  taking  a  long  look  ahead. 
The  politics  of  the  day,  and  any  forecast  of  the 
great  events  which  might  be  expected  by  such  a 
man,  but  not  yet  by  the  mass,  were  in  close  rela- 
tion to  the  business  plans  of  America's  foremost 
merchant.  Upon  the  sea,  American  ships  were 
as  yet  by  no  means  secure,  for  the  maritime 
laws  of  nations  were  but  loosely  interpreted  and 
American  commerce  had  outgrown  any  efficient 
watchcare  of  the  infant  navy  of  the  United 
States.  On  land,  our  entire  northern  frontier 
was  dominated  by  British  posts  and  forces,  no 
less  than  five  considerable  forts  within  the 
American  lines  being  still  held  by  British  gar- 
risons, in  hardly  concealed  alliance  with  the 
Indian  tribes.  These  constituted  a  barrier  not 
only  to  the  fur  trade  but  to  the  general  settle- 
ment of  the  country. 

The  Mississippi  was  our  western  boundary, 
and  all  beyond  was  French  territory.  The 
southeastern  boundary  was  in  doubt,  but  Florida 


22  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

was  Spanish,  if  the  border  could  be  ascertained. 
An  unknown  vastness  on  the  Pacific  coast  and 
in  the  middle  of  the  continent  was  also  Spanish. 
We  were  a  power  of  the  Atlantic  slope  only,  as 
yet,  but  American  settlers  were  pushing  rapidly 
into  the  Ohio  country,  and  there  were  vague 
rumors  of  mighty  changes  soon  to  come.  In 
1803  all  men  were  startled  by  the  sudden  suc- 
cess of  President  Jefferson's  daring  plan  for  the 
purchase  of  the  Louisiana  territory.  It  was 
Napoleon's  blow  at  England,  given  almost  in 
desperation,  but  it  at  once  extended  the  northern 
frontier  of  the  United  States  across  the  conti- 
nent to  a  much  disputed  point  on  the  shore  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  was  somewhere  away 
north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  but 
there  were  only  vague  ideas  extant  of  the  course 
and  character  of  that  exceedingly  distant  stream. 
There  was  said  to  be  but  one  good  seaport  south 
of  the  Columbia,  and  the  bay  of  San  Francisco 
was  Spanish,  as  it  was  afterward  to  be  Mexi- 
can. 

Mr.  Astor's  dream  of  his  country's  future  had 
long  since  been  busy  with  the  addition  which 
had  thus  been  made.  He  knew  more  than  other 
men  concerning  the  wilderness  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  of  the  great  northwest  country.  It 
was  rich  in  furs  now,  but  it  was  to  become  a 
settled  country  and  be  cut  up  into  States,  and 
across  it  was  yet  to  be  a  highway  which  would 
realize  the  wild  ambition  that  led  Columbus 
across  the  Atlantic.  The  new  path  to  Asia  was 
to  be  by  way  of  the  United  States  and  the  Pa- 


JOHN  JACOB  ARTOU  23 

cine.  The  time  was  not  yet  ripe,  but,  during 
several  years  which  followed,  Mr.  Astor  was  the 
head  and  front  of  the  growing  opposition  to 
British  encroachments  on  our  northern  frontier. 
At  the  same  time,  his  commercial  interests  were 
increasing  and  brought  him  into  frequent  colli- 


Choteau's  Pond— now   in   St.  Louis. 

sions  with  another  phase  of  the  overbearing  pol- 
icy of  England.  Her  course  with  reference  to 
the  rights  of  American  ships  and  seamen  became 
more  and  more  difficult  to  endure  as  the  keels 
laid  in  her  lost  colonies  multiplied  upon  every 
sea  and  took  from  her  a  larger  and  larger  share 
of  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world. 


24  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Mr.  Astor's  forecast  was  shrewdly  manifested 
in  another  direction.  New  York  had  not  yet, 
by  any  means,  established  her  position  as  the 
greatest  commercial  centre  of  the  New  World. 
Other  cities  were  proposing  to  rival  or  surpass 
her.  Only  a  part  of  the  lower  end  of  Manhat- 
tan Island  was  as  yet  required  for  business  pur- 
poses, and  most  men  seemed  to  believe  that  the 
remainder  might  be  occupied  as  villas  and  farms 
for  generations.  Not  so  did  Mr.  Astor.  What- 
ever capital  could  be  spared  from  other  opera- 
tions, he  continually  invested  in  real  estate,  a  lit- 
tle outside,  for  the  greater  part,  of  the  ideas  of 
other  buyers.  Some,  indeed,  was  for  immediate 
improvement  and  he  built  upon  it,  but  more  be- 
longed to  the  city  of  the  future  which  his  pro- 
phetic eyes  were  looking  at.  In  this  as  in  other 
parts  of  his  widening  plans,  there  was  no  haste, 
nothing  which  he  himself  considered  speculative, 
but  only  the  onward  march  of  a  settled  policy 
based  upon  his  perceptions  of  the  sure  develop- 
ment of  the  town  he  lived  in.  It  was  a  policy  so 
clearly  outlined  and  so  firmly  fixed  that  it  be- 
came a  recognized  part  of  the  inheritance  which 
he  at  last  handed  over  to  his  children. 

The  merchant-statesman  had  fully  developed 
his  ideas  concerning  the  new  West,  by  the  year 
1809,  and  he  warmly  urged  them  upon  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States.  The  old  frontier, 
he  said,  must  now  be  made  thoroughly  Ameri- 
can, and  must  be  guarded  by  American  forts  and 
lake-cruisers,  as  far  as  the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan. 
From  that  point,  by  a  route  ascertained  by  ac- 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR  25 

tual  survey,  there  should  be  a  chain  of  posts, 
protecting  traffic  and  immigration,  all  the  way 
across  the  continent,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Colum- 
bia River.  From  thence  an  American  line  of 
ships  should  connect  with  Asia,  one  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  being  secured  as  a  half-way  station. 
He  himself,  at  once  and  single-handed,  set  out  to 
found  the  new  seaport  town  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  River.  Read  in  the  light  of  subse- 
quent achievements,  Mr.  Astor's  project  offers 
something  like  a  measure  of  the  luminous  brain 
in  which  it  was  originated.  So  does  the  cour- 
age with  which  he  undertook  to  carry  it  out, 
under  the  most  discouraging  circumstances. 
Long  before  the  overland  stages  ran,  or  the  rail- 
way and  telegraph  were  thought  of,  the  work 
they  were  to  do  had  been  laid  out  for  them. 
The  Pacific  Mail  steamships  of  to-day  make  pre- 
cisely the  use  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  that  was 
assigned  to  them  in  Mr.  Astor's  Asiatic  line,  but 
they  sail  from  a  port  which  was  not  then  Ameri- 
can. 

The  "  War  of  1812  "  broke  rudely  in  upon  the 
efforts,  begun  the  previous  year,  to  carry  out  the 
Columbia  River  scheme.  It  was  a  war  in  the 
direct  line  of  Mr.  Astor's  entire  policy,  but  com- 
pelled its  temporary  abandonment.  It  was  also 
a  war  singularly  marked  by  civil  and  military 
blunders,  but  which,  nevertheless,  accomplished 
the  purposes  for  which  it  was  begun.  At  the 
end  of  it,  American  ships  and  sailors  were  free, 
and  the  northern  frontier  was  forever  clear  of 
encroachments,  with  the  great  lakes  opened  to 


26  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

the  future  of  American  commerce.  While  hos- 
tilities were  still  going  on,  the  country  suffered 
unduly.  It  was  not  yet  of  age,  in  years,  it  was 
very  poor  in  purse,  and  it  had  very  little  credit. 
Mr.  Astor,  however,  had  entire  faith  in  the  secu- 
rities of  the  United  States  and  invested  in  them 


heavily.  The  subsequent  advance  in  price  of  all 
the  purchases  he  made  at  war-time  rates,  much 
more  than  reimbursed  him  for  his  many  losses 
occasioned  by  the  war,  in  a  kind  of  political 
financial  justice. 

After  the  return  of   peace  the    Northwestern 
soheme    was   not  at    once   taken    up  again.      It 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR  27 

could  not  be,  without  direct  and  liberal  co-opera- 
tion by  the  national  government,  and  some  of  its 
topographical  and  other  difficulties  were  better 
understood  than  at  an  earlier  day.  Mr.  Astor's 
interest  in  Asiatic  commerce  continued,  how- 
ever, and  his  commercial  operations  expanded 
after  the  war.  The  growth  of  New  York  City 
was  already  more  than  justifying  his  earlier  pur- 
chases, and  he  was  now  reaching  out  yet  further 
and  was  buying  land  which  had  been  mere  past- 
ure when  he  opened  his  first  shop  on  Water 
Street.  He  was  a  builder  as  well  as  a  buyer, 
with  a  very  clear  conception  of  the  kind  of 
structure  required  for  immediate  occupation  in 
airy  given  locality. 

As  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century 
drew  to  a  close,  Mr.  Astor  began  to  feel  that  his 
time  for  new  enterprises  and  daring  adventures 
had  naturally  passed  away.  While  still  main- 
taining a  keen  supervision  of  his  affairs  and  di- 
recting all  things  with  a  steady  hand  and  almost 
unerring  business  judgment,  there  were  many 
things  which  could  now  be  safely  left  to  others. 
The  very  nature  of  his  investments  made  them 
easier  of  administration.  Without  prejudice  to 
any  financial  interest,  therefore,  more  time  could 
be  given  to  books,  to  literary  friends,  and  to  a 
watchful  study  of  the  manner  in  which  events 
were  fulfilling  the  most  extravagant  dream  of 
his  youth.  It  was  a  rarely  exceptional  accom- 
plishment of  a  penniless  boy's  ambition,  but 
there  had  been  in  it  very  little  of  the  element 
which  takes  the  name  of  chance  or  fortune. 


28  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

There  had  been  exhibited,  on  the  other  hand, 
great  personal  courage  and  endurance,  accom- 
panied by  long  patience.  It  is  not  easy,  now,  to 
couple  the  idea  of  youthful  dash  and  daring  with 
even  the  earlier  days  of  such  a  career  as  his,  but 
it  was  there,  in  a  degree  only  surpassed  by  the 
sagacity  and  the  known  integrity  which  enabled 
him  to  deal  equally  well  with  red  Iroquois,  New 
York  business  men,  or  the  mercantile  houses 
of  Europe  and  Asia.  The  result  accomplished 
was  led  up  to  along  plainly  marked  lines,  by 
the  working  of  distinctly  readable  forces.  Espe- 
cially is  it  notable  that  the  ever-present  spirit  of 
adventure,  ready  for  taking  risks,  was  at  no  time 
changed  into  the  spirit  of  gambling,  the  feverish 
rashness  which  so  often  sacrifices  the  future  to 
the  present. 

Mr.  Astor's  benefactions  were  many,  but  he 
said  no  more  about  them  than  about  his  other 
business  affairs.  Those  that  are  known  evince 
his  characteristic  of  building  thoughtfully  upon 
matured  plans.  One  of  them  was  an  asylum  for 
poor  children  in  his  native  village  of  Waldorf, 
which  he  endowed  with  $50,000.  It  was  a  kind 
of  memorial  of  his  own  boyhood,  given  to  the 
children  poorer  than  himself  with  whose  needs 
he  had  been  acquainted. 

For  the  city  to  which  he  had  been  led,  after 
leaving  Waldorf,  by  way  of  London  and  Balti- 
more, Mr.  Astor  provided  something  altogether 
new.  There  were  already  public  libraries,  here 
and  there,  in  America,  better  or  worse,  and  none 
of  them  of  a  high  order  of  merit.  The  literature 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR  29 

of  the  country  was  in  its  infancy,  but  it  gave 
promise  of  fruitfulness.  Americans  might  yet 
write  readable  books,  some  said,  but  Mr.  Astor's 
habitual  forecast  began  to  deal  with  the  needs  of 
the  men  and  women  who  were  to  write.  There 
was  a  long  and  careful  study  of  the  subject,  and 
there  were  many  consultations  with  eminent 
scholars  and  literary  men,  including  near  per- 
sonal friends  like  Irving  and  Halleck.  The  idea 
that  grew  was  that  of  a  library  for  literary  work- 
ers especially,  and  for  all  readers  incidentally. 
It  should  be  a  perpetual  servant  of  American 
bookmaking,  for  even  Mr.  Astor  could  hardly 
have  foreseen  its  usefulness  to  a  periodical  liter- 
ature yet  to  be  created.  It  was,  however,  for  a 
condition  of  things  not  yet  existing,  but  clearly 
foreseen,  that  he  invented  the  library  bearing  his 
name. 

The  very  locality  selected  for  it  was  well  up- 
town. It  was  among  the  dwellings  of  the  rich, 
as  became  the  dignity  of  its  intended  character, 
although  these  were  before  long  to  drift  up  the 
island,  northward,  like  ships  carried  by  an  irre- 
sistible current. 

For  the  fulfilment  of  his  well-matured  library 
plan,  Mr.  Astor  made  a  cash  devise  of  $400,000. 
Of  more  than  equal  value  was  the  fact  that  its 
future  usefulness  was  made  one  of  the  inherited 
ideas  of  the  Astor  family,  for  another  of  the 
dreams  of  the  Waldorf  boy  had  been  realized, 
and  he  had  founded  a  "  family."  At  his  demise, 
March  29,  1848,  his  estate  was  estimated  at  a  then 
present  valuation  of  only  twenty  millions ;  but  its 


30  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

nature  was  such  that  its  future  was  inseparably 
bound  up  with  that  of  the  city.  Its  subsequent 
history  tallies  closely  with  that  of  the  country 
with  whose  birth  it  began,  and  whose  first  stages 
of  growth  Mr.  Astor  served  so  well,  as  a  pioneer- 
merchant-statesman.  In  studying  the  record  of 
his  career  it  becomes  easier  to  separate  the  idea 
of  statesmanship  from  that  of  office-holding,  and 
to  perceive  that  some  of  the  greatest,  most  far- 
reaching  public  services  may  be  all  the  while  per- 
formed by  lives  which  have  apparently  been  given 
to  the  accomplishment  of  success  in  business. 


II. 

CORNELIUS   VANDERB1LT. 

THE  ancient  idea  that  war  is  the  normal  con- 
dition of  the  human  race  has  been  put  away  only 
so  far  as  the  relations  of  states  and  nations  are 
concerned.  These  indeed  are  content,  in  this 
latter  day,  to  maintain  an  attitude  of  armed  peace 
which  is  itself  an  exceedingly  costly  warfare, 
consuming  vast  armies  in  fortified  camps  with- 
out sending  them  into  actual  battle.  In  other 
departments  of  human  activity  there  is  perpetual 
conflict.  Business  men  of  all  occupations  still 
speak  of  the  season  before  them  as  "the  cam- 
paign." In  it  they  expect  to  meet  with  com- 
petition, and  with  the  chances  and  changes  of 
production,  consumption,  and  finance,  as  with  en- 
emies in  the  field.  The  gathering  and  use  of 
varied  forces,  the  strategies  of  attack  and  de- 
fence employed,  are  often  in  striking  correspond- 
ence with  processes  involved  in  the  movements 
of  armies.  The  larger  and  the  more  carefully 
studied  may  be  the  operations,  the  stronger  ap- 
pears the  military  likeness.  At  the  close  of  each 
campaign,  moreover,  with  its  consequences  of 
victory  or  defeat,  there  is  apt  to  be  a  military 
illustration  of  the  related  doctrine  of  "  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest." 


32  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

During  many  years,  a  period  which  might  be 
measured  by  one  long  business  life,  there  was  a 
little  group  of  men  in  New  York  City  whose 
membership  attracted  the  eyes  of  the  nation 
somewhat  as  did  its  statesmen  and  its  generals. 
It  was  generally  understood  that  they  were  con- 
stantly engaged  in  a  warlike  rivalry  which  fre- 
quently brought  them  into  collisions,  into  trials 
of  strength  and  skill,  in  the  results  of  which  large 
numbers  of  their  fellow-citizens,  if  not  all,  had  at 
least  an  indirect  pecuniary  interest.  Whatever 
might  be  said  of  any  of  them,  as  speculators, 
financiers,  money-kings,  or  the  like,  they  and 
their  ways  were  so  discussed  from  day  to  day 
that  other  men  became  familiar  with  them,  with 
even  their  faces  and  their  dress  and  their  habits 
of  speech,  almost  as  if  they  were  personal  ac- 
quaintances. 

Towering  among  them,  like  Saul  above  his 
brethren,  the  most  dramatic  figure  of  them  all, 
but  without  knowing  it,  was  one  tall,  broad-shoul- 
dered, muscular  form,  which  remained  upon  the 
field  of  battle  after  most  of  the  others  had  passed 
away.  In  fact,  it  still  remains,  and  cannot  even  yet 
pass  out  of  the  minds  of  men  ;  for  Cornelius  Van- 
derbilt  was  in  many  respects  the  most  remarkable 
man  of  business  yet  developed  in  the  long,  stormy 
fermentations  of  American  business  affairs. 

He  was  born  near  Stapleton,  Staten  Island, 
N.  Y.,  May  27,  1794,  and  was  descended  from 
Jan  Aertsen  Van  der  Bilt,  a  Dutch  immigrant 
who  came  over  from  Holland  about  the  year 
1650,  and  settled  upon  a  farm  near  Brooklyn. 


Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 


34  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Something  like  sixty-five  years  later,  or  in  1715, 
his  grandson,  the  great-grandfather  of  Cornelius 
Vanderbilt,  went  over  to  Staten  Island  and  be- 
came the  owner  of  a  farm  near  New  Dorp. 
Here  he  became  'converted  to  the  doctrines  of 
the  Moravians,  which  continued  to  influence  the 
religious  ideas  of  the  family  during  several  gen- 
erations. 

The  type  of  character  introduced  by  the  early 
Dutch  colonists  and  developed  under  American 
conditions  has  presented  marked  differences  from 
its  near  neighbor  and  rival,  or  fellow-citizen,  the 
New  England  Puritan  stock.  It  has,  however, 
in  equal  degree,  the  enterprise,  the  love  of  ad- 
venture, the  fearlessness,  the  sturdy  personal  in- 
dependence ;  for  these  were  inherited  from  the 
heroic  people  who  made  the  great  history  of  the 
Dutch  Republic. 

The  father  of  Cornelius  was  a  farmer  in  mod- 
erate circumstances,  but  might  have  given  his  son 
something  like  an  early,  common-school  educa- 
tion, if  he  would  have  taken  it.  He  learned  to 
read  and  write,  whether  he  would  or  not,  but 
that  was  the  end  of  his  consent  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  books.  Arithmetic,  in  all  its  practical 
applications,  came  to  him  naturally ;  and  as  for 
geography,  any  map  he  cared  to  examine  was 
transferred  to  his  memory  as  if  it  belonged  to  the 
ins  and  outs  of  New  York  Bay  or  the  Sound. 
He  was  hardly  more  than  a  child  when  he  began 
his  searching  acquaintanceship  with  all  of  those 
coast-lines  that  he  could  get  an  opportunity  of 
visiting. 


CORNELIUS   VANDERBILT  35 

It  was,  after  all,  a  wholesome  life  for  a  boy  to 
lead,  with  its  boating  and  fishing  adventures  and 
its  increasing  knowledge  of  land  and  sea.  The 
Staten  Island  farmers  and  their  neighbors,  like 
all  islanders,  were  necessarily  a  semi-maritime 
people.  Among  them  and  those  who  from  time 
to  time  drifted  ashore,  were  old  seafaring  men, 
full  of  strange  yarns  and  also  full  of  varied  funds 
of  nautical  information.  It  was  a  preparatory 
school,  after  all,  for  a  boy  who  was  yet  to  have 
so  much  to  do  with  ships  and  shipping.  His 
next  lesson  in  life  was  one  which  at  once  gave 
him  his  bent  and  introduced  him  to  the  career  in 
which  his  distinguishing  work  was  to  be  per- 
formed. He  was  a  handsome  boy,  tall  and  strong 
beyond  his  years,  of  a  steady  and  resolute,  but 
sometimes  pugnacious  temper,  and  with  keen, 
restless  dark  eyes,  which  seemed  to  miss  nothing 
between  them  and  the  horizon. 

His  father  sent  the  produce  of  his  farm,  with 
some  from  other  farms,  to  New  York  City,  in  a 
sail-boat  of  his  own.  It  was  a  stout  craft,  built 
for  safety  rather  than  speed,  for  the  waves  of  the 
Bay  were  sometimes  rough  sailing,  but  before 
long  Cornelius  proved  himself  so  good  a  sailor 
that  he  was  trusted  to  go  and  come  by  himself. 
He  was  the  captain  and  often  the  entire  crew  of 
a  vessel  which  carried  freight,  but  was  also  will- 
ing to  convey  passengers.  The  produce  carried 
was  generally  to  be  delivered  for  sale  to  market 
consignees,  but  there  were  exceptions,  and  occa- 
sions for  the  exercise  of  judgment.  It  was  a 
business  with  "  points  "  of  its  own  to  be  studied 


36  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

and  perceived,  and  the  Staten  Island  boy  shortly 
obtained  a  thorough  comprehension  of  his  mar- 
ket, with  its  ups  and  downs,  its  over-sales,  its 
scarcities,  and  its  artificial  "  corners."  He  made 
ventures  of  his  own,  before  long,  and  his  opera- 
tions were  conducted  so  well  that  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  became  a  ship-owner,  that  is,  he 
bought  and  owned  a  better  sail-boat  than  his 
father's.  It  carried  freight  as  well,  but  it  had 
more  room  for  passengers,  and  these  were  in- 
creasing in  number  as  the  years  went  by.  There 
was  money  in  the  business,  and  he  prospered, 
growing  taller  and  stronger  while  he  did  so.  At 
eighteen,  he  not  only  owned  two  good  boats, 
handled  for  him  by  hired  crews,  but  was  captain 
of  a  third  and  larger  boat,  commodore  of  a  little 
line  that  made  quite  a  figure  in  the  trade  and 
transportation  of  Staten  Island.  Here  he  kept 
his  office  and  headquarters  at  the  old  farm-house, 
during  one  year  more,  but  he  was  studying  more 
extended  enterprises.  At  nineteen,  he  married 
his  cousin,  Sophia  Johnson,  and  moved  to  New 
York  City,  where  he  transacted  business  and 
made  and  kept  his  contracts  with  small  reference 
to  the  fact  that  he  was  not  yet  of  age. 

Immediately  the  strong,  deep  mark  of  his  busi- 
ness genius  manifested  itself.  It  seemed  as  if 
every  line  of  water  transit  between  New  York 
and  other  ports,  small  or  great,  was  already  held, 
and  some  were  apparently  more  than  supplied, 
but  young  Vanderbilt  had  noted  deficiencies. 
He  began  to  plan  for  both  traffic  and  freight  be- 
tween the  city  and  several  towns  along  the  Hud- 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT 


37 


son  River  and  Long  Island  Sound.  The  days  of 
steam  were  at  hand,  but  had  not  arrived,  and  he 
planned  and  had  built,  according  to  his  several 
requirements,  boats,  sloops,  and  schooners,  upon 
the  best  and  latest  models  for  speed,  capacity, 


One  of  the  Early  Steamboats. 

and  comfort  He  met  with  both  encouraging 
successes  and  speculative  losses.  Nothing  like 
wealth  seemed  to  promise  as  yet,  and  before  long 
there  were  greater  and  greater  encroachments 
made  by  steam  vessels  upon  the  old  time  craft  and 
their  business.  That,  too,  was  a  change  for  which 
he  was  getting  ready,  and  he  was  only  twenty- 
three  years  of  age  when  he  became  captain  of  a 


38  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

steamer  running  as  a  freight  and  passenger  ferry- 
boat between  New  York  and  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.  During  the  twelve  years  that  followed  he 
was  nominally  at  work  upon  a  salary,  but  was  all 
the  while  getting  ahead,  mentally  and  pecuniar- 
ily. He  was  able,  therefore,  in  1827,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-three,  to  lease  on  his  own  account  the 
ferry  between  New  York  and  Elizabeth,  N.  J.  It 
was  a  promising  line,  but  he  at  once  made  its 
promise  of  greater  value  by  building  new  and 
improved  boats  for  it.  So  well  was  his  forecast 
verified  by  cash  results  that  two  years  later,  in 
1829,  he  was  ready  to  contract  for  new  and  larger 
craft  with  which  to  compete  for  the  rich  trans- 
port harvest  of  the  Hudson  River.  There  was 
but  one  road  to  victory,  for  his  competitors  were 
wide-awake  men.  It  was  necessary  to  offer  the 
public  something  better  than  others  gave  them, 
and  he  did  so,  zealously  hunting  out  every  dis- 
coverable improvement  in  hulls,  machinery,  or 
outfit.  Moreover,  he  was  personally  acquainted 
with  the  entire  boating  community,  and  knew 
how  to  select  men  for  their  work.  The  very  prin- 
ciple upon  which  he  was  managing  led  him  to 
make  continual  improvements  in  the  human  force 
in  charge  of  his  fleet.  He  was  remorseless  in  dis- 
pensing with  defective  subordinates,  continually, 
as  if  they  were  so  many  boats,  replacing  those 
who  were  unsatisfactory  with  something  better 
adapted  to  the  business  in  hand. 

There  were  few  millionaires  in  the  United 
States  in  the  year  1836.  It  was  a  time,  too,  of 
wide-spread  financial  distress,  and  business  men 


CORNELIUS   VANDERBILT  39 

generally  were  losing  money,  rather  than  mak- 
ing any.  All  the  more  prominence,  therefore, 
was  given  to  a  man  who  had  acquired  the  fleet 
captain's  title  of  Commodore,  and  was  loosely 
estimated  to  be  worth  $500,000.  This  was  prob- 
ably much  too  high  an  estimate,  and  nearly  the 
whole  sum,  larger  or  smaller,  was  invested  in 
property  which  required  constant  activity  to 
maintain  its  value.  It  was  not  large  enough  to 
enable  its  owner  to  maintain  a  war,  campaign 
after  campaign,  over  too  broad  a  field,  in  oppo- 
sition to  powerful  and  capable  antagonists.  The 
Hudson  River  interest  was  therefore  parted  with 
to  Robert  L.  Stevens,  the  Commodore  restricting 
himself,  for  a  time,  to  Long  Island  Sound  and  its 
growing  requirements.  The  commerce  of  this 
great  water-way  had  not  yet  been  materially  in- 
terfered with  by  railway  competition,  but  any- 
thing like  a  mastery  of  it  called  for  a  further 
application  of  the  fundamental  principle  of  im- 
provement, the  best  boats  handled  by  the  best 
men.  If  again  and  again  weaker  rivals  were 
crushed  by  a  persistent  system  of  lower  rates 
and  better  accommodations,  the  methods  of  the 
campaigns  in  which  they  were  beaten  were  not 
injurious  to  the  public  interest. 

The  Commodore  was  now  in  a  kind  of  general 
partnership  with  important  concerns  engaged  in 
ship-building.  Acting  independently,  of  course, 
they  understood  and  were  prepared'  to  meet  his 
increasing  requirements.  When,  therefore,  in 
1849,  the  California  gold  excitement  broke  out, 
with  its  sudden  flood  of  feverish  migration,  he 


40  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

was  better  ready  than  other  men  to  seize  the  op- 
portunity. He  promptly  placed  steamers  upon 
the  Nicaragua  route  to  San  Francisco,  and  began 
to  gather  a  golden  harvest  before  any  large 
amounts  had  returned  from  the  placers.  Four 
years  later,  in  1853,  he  sold  out  this  part  of  his 


San   Francisco 


undertakings,  upon  what  seemed  peculiarly  ad- 
vantageous terms.  He  had  toiled  long,  had  ac- 
cumulated wealth,  and  had  determined  upon 
enjoying  a  vacation.  For  this  he  had  planned  in 
a  manner  that  was  altogether  his  own.  There 
were  steam  yachts,  although  not  many,  both  in 
America  and  Europe,  but  he  had  built  for  him- 
self, upon  general  designs  of  his  own  making,  a 
vessel  which  he  named  the  North  Star.  In  her 


CORNELIUS  VANDEHBILT  41 

construction,  tonnage,  and  appointments,  she  sur- 
passed any  other  steam  yacht  then  in  existence, 
and  he  sailed  in  her  to  the  Old  World,  with  his 
family  and  a  chosen  party  of  friends.  It  was  a 
long  pleasure  cruise,  during  which  he  touched 
at  many  ports,  and  everywhere  attracted  and 
received  marked  attention.  There  were  great 
ship-owning  houses  and  corporations,  the  world 
over,  but  no  other  individual  was  "  Commodore  " 
of  so  large  a  fleet,  owned  and  directed  by  himself. 
He  was  a  kind  of  prince  in  the  realm  of  sea-going 
transportation,  and  he  was  treated  accordingly. 

If  this  was  to  be  regarded  as  the  celebration 
of  a  business  triumph,  he  returned  to  America  to 
find  a  new  war  upon  his  hands,  and  he  entered 
into  it  with  vigor.  The  parties  to  whom  he  had 
sold  the  Nicaragua  line  were  disputing  the  con- 
ditions of  their  bargain  and  were  trying  to  evade 
its  payments.  It  is  possible  that  in  the  courts, 
or  if  he  had  been  less  of  a  fighting  man,  or  with 
weaker  resources,  they  might  have  succeeded. 
They  might,  at  least,  have  obtained  compro- 
mises. As  it  was,  they  found  him  at  once  re-en- 
tering the  field  as  their  competitor,  and  with  a 
vastly  better  mastery  of  all  the  elements  of  that 
species  of  campaign.  After  a  sharp,  pitiless 
struggle,  they  were  forced  into  bankruptcy  and 
the  victor  retained  possession  of  the  field  of  bat- 
tle. It  was  a  prize  worth  contending  for.  Dur- 
ing the  eleven  years  that  followed,  his  profits 
amounted  to  $i  1,000,000.  He  was  not  the  richest 
man  in  America,  but  he  stood  among  the  fore- 
most half  dozen. 


42  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

During  a  part  of  this  period,  a  large  share  of 
the  Commodore's  energetic  work  was  turned  in 
another  direction.  England  was  then,  although 
to  a  less  extent  than  now,  the  mistress  of  the 
ocean-carrying  business.  The  United  States 
stood  very  near  her — next  in  rank — but  mainly 
with  wooden  sailing  vessels.  Only  one  impor- 
tant line  of  American  steamers,  the  Collins,  ran 
upon  the  Atlantic  ferry.  There  had  been  signs 
of  an  approaching  collision  between  England  and 
Russia,  and  it  was  plainly  to  be  foreseen  that 
such  an  event  would  offer  an  American  oppor- 
tunity by  a  partial  crippling  of  the  English  mer- 
chant marine.  That  France  also  was  involved 
increased  the  probable  opening,  and  the  Com- 
modore prepared  to  take  advantage  of  it.  His 
idea  was  a  long  campaign  for  the  carrying  trade 
between  Europe  and  America,  and  he  began  it 
with  the  outbreak  of  the  Crimean  War,  in  1853. 
Using  whatever  other  ships  he  owned  or  could 
obtain,  he  built  three  new  ones,  the  best  and  the 
swiftest,  and  established  them  as  a  line  between 
New  York  and  Havre.  The  Crimean  War  was 
ended  in  1856,  and  before  that  time  the  English 
ship  interest  had  more  than  recovered  from  its 
temporary  disability.  It  was  once  more  exceed- 
ingly difficult  for  any  American  line  to  maintain 
what  was,  for  many  reasons,  an  unequal  contest. 
A  mistake  of  generalship  on  the  part  of  the  Com- 
modore himself,  made  it  impossible.  All  great 
leaders  make  mistakes,  and  even  the  Commodore 
hastily  overlooked  the  fact  that  to  weaken  any 
American  line  or  the  general  resources  of  such 


CORNELIUS   VANDERBILT  43 

lines,  was  to  strengthen  the  common  enemy. 
The  great  English  steamship  interest  was  well 
known  to  be  aided  by  Government  subsidies,  in 
one  form  or  another,  in  addition  to  their  many 
other  advantages.  The  Collins  line  was  main- 
tained against  them,  narrowly,  by  its  United 
States  mail  contracts.  It  was  a  fatal  blow  when 
the  Vanderbilt  ships  proposed  to  carry  the  mails 
for  nothing.  The  payment  ceased ;  the  Collins 
steamers  shortly  were  withdrawn ;  the  Commo- 
dore was  left  alone  in  the  field.  If  he  had  won  an 
apparent  victory  over  an  American  rival,  how- 
ever, he  had  enabled  his  European  opponents  to 
concentrate  against  him,  and  they  forced  him  to 
give  up  the  fight. 

Long  before  this,  however,  Mr.  Vanderbilt's 
genius  for  transportation  had  led  him  to  the  care- 
ful study  of  another  of  the  most  obvious  signs 
of  the  times.  His  own  account  books,  and  the 
reports  of  other  steamboat  men,  told  him  how 
the  railways  were  taking  away  the  carrying  busi- 
ness of  the  Hudson  and  the  Sound.  The  latter 
was  of  less  importance,  but  the  rails  parallel 
with  the  river  reached  on,  westward,  as  far  as 
the  future  of  the  country  might  build  tracks  for 
them,  or  provide  freight  and  passengers.  Nev- 
ertheless, these  lines  of  transportation  had  been 
so  managed  that  their  record  had  been  largely 
one  of  losses,  and  the  prices  of  their  stocks  ruled 
low.  As  early  as  1844,  Mr.  Vanderbilt  began  to 
buy  shares  of  the  New  York  and  New  Haven, 
then  at  a  low  figure,  but  he  did  so  quietly,  with- 
out attracting  attention.  It  was  not  until  the 


44  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

close  of  the  Crimean  War,  in  1856,  that  he  was 
known  to  be  drawing  out  from  the  steamboat 
lines  on  the  Sound.  In  very  nearly  the  same 
manner,  if  not  quite  so  early,  he  acquired  and 
steadily  increased  an  interest  in  the  New  York 
and  Harlem  road,  the  shares  of  which  were 
almost  despised  and  neglected  on  the  Exchange. 
He  was  biding  his  time  and  setting  his  capital 
free ;  but  too  much  of  it  was  yet  invested  in  ships 
and  steamers,  and  their  management  could  not  be 
neglected  without  disastrous  losses. 

It  looked  as  if  these  had  come  to  him,  as  to 
other  American  ship-owners,  with  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War,  in  1861.  The  commercial  marine 
of  the  United  States  was  indeed  soon  swept  from 
the  sea,  and  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world 
passed  into  other  hands  altogether.  At  once, 
however,  there  was  a  war  demand  for  such  craft 
as  could  be  fitted  up  as  light  cruisers,  or  could 
serve  as  transports  for  troops  and  army  supplies. 
It  does  not  appear  that  the  Commodore  at  once 
availed  himself  of  this  market  for  vessels  to  any 
extent,  but  the  spring  of  1862  brought  him  an 
exceptional  opportunity.  The  Monitor  and  the 
Merrimac  fought  their  historic  battle,  in  Hamp- 
ton Roads,  changing  in  a  day  the  navies  and 
naval  warfare  of  the  world.  With  the  first  news 
of  the  appearance  of  the  Merrimac,  however,  and 
of  the  destruction  of  the  United  States  wooden 
war-vessels,  the  patriotism  of  the  Commodore 
took  fire.  His  best  steamship  was  the  Vanderbilt, 
the  swiftest,  strongest,  best  appointed  ship  afloat, 
as  he  believed.  She  could,  at  least,  run  down  the 


CORNELIUS   VANDERBILT  45 

Merrimac,  armored  or  unarmored,  even  if  both 
ships  went  to  the  bottom  together.  The  experi- 
ment was  never  to  be  tried,  although  thenceforth 
the  "  ram "  recovered  its  old  Roman  place  in 
naval  combats ;  but  the  Vanderbilt  was  made  a 
present  to  the  United  States  and  performed  other 
services  of  vast  value.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
in  1866,  the  patriotic  giver  received  from  Con- 
gress a  vote  of  thanks  and  a  gold  .medal,  in 


The  Vanderbilt. 

cordial  recognition  of  his  timely  gift.  It  had 
indeed  stimulated  all  other  support  of  the  na- 
tional cause,  and  had  strengthened  the  Govern- 
ment in  its  hour  of  need.  There  was  afterward 
no  expression  of  jealousy  when  it  became  gen- 
erally understood  that  subsequent  disposal  of  all 
his  other  available  craft,  by  sale  or  charter,  to  the 
Government,  had  enabled  Mr.  Vanderbilt  to  per- 
manently withdraw  his  capital  from  the  water, 
with  large  profits,  that  he  might  reinvest  it  in  rails 
and  rolling  stock.  Only  a  year  later,  in  1863,  he 
had  upon  his  hands  his  first  important  railway 


46  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

and  Stock  Exchange  campaign,  and  he  fought  it 
out,  through  what  seemed  inevitable  defeat,  to  a 
victory  which  opened  the  way  to  a  long  series  of 
brilliant  successes. 

Owing  to  long-continued  mismanagement  and 
other  causes,  the  stock  of  the  Harlem  Railroad 
was  selling,  in  1863,  at  only  $10  a  share.  It 
was  therefore  easy  for  a  man  with  millions  of 
released  capital  to  buy  a  controlling  interest, 
but  there  were  those  who  wondered  what  he 
could  do  with  it,  even  as  a  Wall-Street  shuttle- 
cock. His  lifelong  policy,  or  principle,  of  de- 
velopment and  improvement  was  not  understood 
by  mere  speculators.  Neither  were  they  aware 
how  silently  and  rapidly  he  was  buying  shares 
of  the  Hudson  River  road,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  $75  per  share.  His  first  movement 
was  to  obtain  a  charter  for  a  system  of  New 
York  City  street  railways,  connecting  with  the 
road,  including  a  line  traversing  Broadway.  Up 
went  the  stock  to  par,  and  for  a  little  while 
the  enterprise  looked  well ;  but  daring  and  skil- 
ful foes  were  preparing  something  very  much 
resembling  a  night  attack.  Prominent  Wall- 
Street  operators  entered  into  combination  with 
controlling  politicians  and  sold  the  stock  short, 
or  for  future  delivery,  while  the  city  government 
prepared  to  rescind  the  Broadway  part  of  the 
new  franchise,  considered  its  greatest  value. 

The  stock  went  down,  down  again.  The 
franchise  was  reduced  to  narrower  limits,  and 
still  the  operators  sold  and  sold,  to  push  their 
supposed  victim  lower.  What  they  did  not 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  47 

know  was  the  fact  that  the  opposing  general 
was  quite  willing  to  risk  his  resources  and  was 
buying  all  they  offered.  He  went  on  until  the 
entire  stock  of  the  road  was  in  his  hands, 
and  men  who  had  contracts  out  for  its  deliv- 
ery must  buy  of  him.  That  their  settlements 
were  made,  as  it  was  said,  "at  two  prices," 
was  a  matter  of  course,  but  the  plans  of  the 
victor  included  a  permanent  increase  of  actual 
value  as  well  as  of  selling  price.  His  purchases 
had  now  given  him  control  of  the  Hudson  River 
road  also,  and  he  at  once  sent  into  the  State 
Legislature  a  bill  providing  for  the  union  of  the 
two  franchises.  Here  he  was  again  confronted 
by  the  financial  political  clique  of  stock  operators, 
led  by  some  of  the  most  acute  and  able  men 
on  the  Street  or  at  Albany.  The  stock  had  risen 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  when  they  began  to 
"bear"  it.  Down  it  went,  and  they  seemed  to 
be  making  money  and  beating  their  too  venture- 
some adversary  all  the  way,  until  its  price  was 
lower  than  that  at  which  he  at  the  first  began  to 
purchase.  He  and  his  friends,  however,  were 
obligingly  accepting  all  offers,  until  the  out- 
standing short  contracts  covered  twenty-seven 
thousand  more  shares  than  had  ever  been  issued. 
There  was  a  hot  day  on  the  Street  when  this  fact 
came  to  light.  It  was  even  necessary  for  the  Com- 
modore, in  order  to  avert  a  general  panic,  to 
settle  with  the  associated  "shorts"  at  an  average 
price  of  $285  per  share.  His  profits  were  enor- 
mous. The  two  roads  were  made  one,  and  instant- 
ly began  a  searching  reformation  in  every  part 


48  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

and  department  of  their  management.  Mr.  Van- 
derbilt  assumed  the  presidency  of  the  new  cor- 
poration, with  a  nominal  board  of  directors, 
who  directed  very  much  as  if  they  had  been  the 
mates  and  crew  of  one  of  his  old-time  coasting- 
vessels.  Perhaps  no  other  feature  occasioned 
more  surprise,  from  time  to  time,  than  did  the 
minuteness  of  his  knowledge  of  all  the  items  of 
a  railway  construction  account,  and  his  determi- 
nation to  use  only  the  very  best  appliances,  of 
every  kind.  Allied  to  this  was  his  rigid  demand 
for  discipline,  fidelity,  and  efficiency  in  all  the 
human  part  of  his  transportation  service.  In  so 
doing  he  was  rendering  a  vast  and  permanent 
public  service,  for  it  was  a  revolution  which 
rapidly  extended  to  all  other  American  railways. 
Mr.  Vanderbilt's  first  purchases  of  New  York 
Central  stock  had  attracted  no  special  attention, 
but  his  successive  graspings  of  the  river  lines 
sent  a  spasm  of  alarm  through  the  circle  of  finan- 
ciers then  in  control  of  the  railroads  from  Al- 
bany to  Buffalo.  They  had  held  that  impor- 
tant interest  long,  believed  themselves  firmly 
seated,  but  they  dreaded  the  swift  advances 
of  this  new  railway  king.  He  was  a  danger- 
ous enemy  to  other  kings,  and  they  made  the 
serious  mistake  of  beginning  a  Avar  upon  him. 
They  were  not  overwise,  for  they  overlooked 
the  ice-bound  condition  of  the  Hudson  during  all 
the  winter  months,  when  they  made  their  ar- 
rangements to  send  down  their  heavy  freights 
and  as  many  as  possible  of  their  passengers  to 
New  York  by  water  instead  of  by  rail.  It  was 


CORNELIUS    VANDERBILT  49 

a  war  in  which  both  shippers  and  travellers  prof- 
ited, and  the  roads  did  not,  but  it  only  lasted  a 
year  or  so.  The  Commodore's  new  movement 
was  ready  with  the  winter  of  1865.  His  friends 
and  agents  on  the  street  were  heavily  short  of 
New  York  Central  stock,  and  the  river  was  closed 
with  ice,  when  he  suddenly  transferred  the  Al- 
bany terminus  of  the  river  roads  across  to  the 
eastern  shore,  and  refused  to  receive  freight  from 
the  Central.  Down  went  the  market  price  of  its 
shares,  and  the  Vanderbilt  interest  not  only  prof- 
itably covered  its  shorts,  but  took  also  all  the 
stock  that  was  offered  by  the  surprised  and  all 
but  panicky  holders.  At  the  end  of  this  cam- 
paign there  was  an  assurance  of  peace  in  the  fut- 
ure, for  the  winner  controlled  the  rails  from  New 
York  to  Buffalo,  and  was  arranging  for  another 
consolidation.  In  1869  he  was  elected  President 
of  the  New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River  Rail- 
road Co.  He  had  already  been  President  of 
the  Central  since  1867,  however,  and  there  had 
really  been  but  one  road  and  one  head,  with  a 
drastic  process  of  reorganization,  reform,  recon- 
struction, and  deeply  searching  improvement  go- 
ing on  from  hour  to  hour. 

The  reorganization  of  the  financial  structure 
of  the  consolidated  roads  involved  an  important 
feature  which  was  then  and  afterward  the  sub- 
ject of  severe  criticism.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  de- 
clared that  the  Existing  stock  did  not  fairly  rep- 
resent the  property.  Additional  stock  was  there- 
fore issued  to  holders,  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred 
and  seven  per  cent,  nominal  shares  to  outstand- 
4 


50  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

ing  shares  of  Central,  and  eighty-nine  per  cent, 
to  shares  of  the  Hudson  River.  In  spite  of  this 
watering  process  the  price  arose  to  two  hundred, 
so  great  was  the  general  confidence  in  the  new 
management,  and  so  thoroughly  was  any  exist- 
ing "  bear  "  interest  defeated. 

While  the  improvement  in  the  roads  under 
Mr.  Vanderbilt's  control  was  altogether  phe- 
nominal ;  while  tracks,  bridges,  depots,  cars,  and 
lateral  connections  changed  their  character  as  if 
by  magic,  the  Commander-in-Chief,  now,  rather 
than  the  Commodore,  was  leading  his  financial 
forces  westward.  By  obtaining  control  of  the 
Lake  Shore,  Canada  Southern,  and  Michigan 
Central,  he  completed  his  relations  with  the  com- 
merce of  the  great  lakes  and  reached  Chicago. 
From  this  centre  of  freight  and  trade  he  pushed 
on,  over  road  after  road,  into  the  west  and  north- 
west country,  and  formed  connections  across  the 
continent  to  the  Pacific.  Almost  every  succes- 
sive step  involved  a  contest,  more  or  less  severe, 
but  he  met  with  no  more  perplexing  adversaries 
than  those  with  whom  he. contended,  at  the  very 
outset,  in  a  campaign  aimed  against  the  then 
competing  management  of  the  Erie,  or  "  New 
York,  Lake  Erie  &  Western"  Railway.  The 
leaders  upon  the  opposite  side  were  Daniel  Drew, 
Jay  Gould,  James  Fiske,  and  other  well-known 
powers  of  the  Street,  and  the  contest  passed 
through  a  swift  succession  of  "exciting,  drama- 
tic, often  grotesque  and  even  repulsive  phases. 
Never  before  or  since  has  it  been  equalled  in  the 
annals  of  American  "  stock  operations,"  and  its 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  51 

details  were  by  no  means  pleasant  reading,  for 
courts  of  law  were  made  to  figure  as  mere  chess- 
men in  the  hands  of  skilful  players.  If  all  things 
are  fair  in  war,  upon  that  and  no  other  ground 
could  much  that  was  done  be  justified.  If,  how- 
ever, the  Commodore  was  at  one  time  beaten, 
with  a  loss  of  $7,000,000,  by  means  of  a  fraudulent 
over-issue  of  Erie  shares,  he  afterward  justly 
recovered  nearly  $5,000,000  of  it,  after  a  contest 
in  the  courts.  His  real  success,  however,  con- 
sisted in  the  final  result  that  his  own  great  rail- 
way system  was  left  without  an  important  rival 
nearer  than  the  more  southerly  east-and-west 
trunk  lines.  With  these  it  was  afterward  to 
enter  into  a  number  of  brief,  spasmodic  competi- 
tions for  the  business  of  the  West,  but  there  was 
to  be  no  campaign  worthy  of  record  as  throwing 
further  light  upon  his  own  genius. 

It  has  been  said  of  him  that  he  was  not  and 
could  not  have  been  a  pioneer;  that  he  never 
projected  or  opened  a  new  line  or  channel.  If 
this  should  be  accepted  as  measurably  true,  it 
should  be  read  in  connection  with  his  leading 
characteristic  as  a  business  man,  that  of  perceiv- 
ing at  a  glance  whatever  could  be  done  to  de- 
velop any  existing  channel  to  its  utmost  capacity, 
with  reference  to  all  the  future  effects  or  conse- 
quences of  that  development.  The  roads  that  he 
perfected  and  the  rates  of  carrying  as  he  reduced 
them,  may  be  said  to  have  made  some  of  our 
new  States  possible.  The  rapidity  of  their  settle- 
ment and  prosperity  could  not  otherwise  have 
been  attained. 


52  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

The  long  warfare  of  Mr.  Vanderbilt's  busi- 
ness life  grew  somewhat  less  active  toward  the 
close,  but  it  could  not  altogether  cease  until  the 
very  end.  This  came,  in  New  York  City,  Janu- 
ary 4,  1877.  His  estate  was  estimated  at  about 
one  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  a  million  previously  given  to  Vander- 
bilt  University,  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  $50,000 
to  the  Church  of  the  Strangers  in  New  York,  it 
went  to  his  children,  the  larger  part  going  to  his 
son,  William  H.  Vanderbilt,  into  whose  hands 
the  business  management  had  already  passed. 

A  much  greater  inheritance  remained,  divided 
among  all  men,  in  the  work  he  had  performed 
for  the  transportation  business  of  the  United 
States.  He  went  into  it  in  its  very  infancy,  grew 
with  it,  and  its  present  advanced  condition  owes 
more  to  him  than  to  any  other  man.  He  builded 
well  through  all  the  sharp  campaigns  of  his  war- 
like business  life.  He  left  behind  him  a  broadly 
written  record  upon  the  face  of  the  land,  in  stone 
and  steel  and  iron.  No  other  American  business 
man  can  be  given  a  higher  rank  as  one  of  the 
builders  of  the  prosperity  of  the  commonwealth. 


Charles  Louis  Tiffany. 


III. 

CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY. 

THERE  yet  lingers,  in  the  minds  of  many  men, 
a  remnant  of  the  old,  semi-barbaric  idea  that 
there  is  a  natural  separation  between  the  fine 
arts  and  good  business  management.  A  better 
understanding  grows  more  and  more  into  gen- 
eral acceptance,  but  art  and  good  taste  are  not 
intelligently  studied  as  important  servants  of 
success,  except  within  the  limits  of  a  few  pecul- 
iarly developed  lines  of  business.  Their  possible 
application  has  hardly  any  limit.  If  it  were 
made,  as  it  eventually  must  be,  a  wide  range  of 
occupations  would  become  vastly  useful  also  as 
educational  and  refining  processes. 

It  is  true  that  the  more  obvious  uses  of  color, 
order,  arrangement,  for  effect  in  attracting  the 
eyes  of  retail  purchasers,  are  by  no  means  neg- 
lected, but  they  are  sought  for  with  an  exceed- 
ingly defective  perception  of  their  nature  and 
value.  It  is  also  true  that  the  general  public 
taste  has  advanced,  attaining  a  better  but  still 
very  dim  idea  of  the  distinction  between  orna- 
mentation and  bedizenment.  The  better  culture 
may  well  be  acknowledged  in  full.  Both  its 
growth  and  its  importance  may  find  instructive 


54  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

illustrations  from  the  record  of  the  business  men 
to  whose  successful  careers  the  improvement 
attaches. 

The  field  of  art  culture  is  wide,  and  the  part  of 
it  under  consideration  owes  less  than  might  be 
imagined  to  the  utterances  or  writings,  or  even 
to  the  art-achievements  of  men  who  have  earned 
fame  as  masters  and  professional  instructors. 
More  has  been  'done  for  the  general  forward 
movement  by  men  who  have  obtained  practical 
business  successes  by  taking  good  taste  and 
sound  art-principles  as  partners  in  the  councils 
of  their  counting-rooms. 

Charles  Louis  Tiffany  was  born  at  Killingly, 
Conn.,  February  15,  1812.  The  family,  of  Eng- 
lish origin,  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  New 
England,  for  his  great-grandfather  was  a  native 
of  Massachusetts.  His  father,  Comfort  Tiffany, 
was  born  and  brought  up  at  Attleboro,  Mass., 
and,  shortly  after  marrying  Miss  Chloe  Draper, 
of  that  place,  removed  to  Danielsonville,  Wind- 
ham  County,  Conn.,  to  engage  in  the  manufact- 
ure of  cotton  goods. 

There  was  a  noteworthy  reason  for  such  an 
adventure,  for  the  war  of  1812,  with  England, 
shutting  off  importation,  gave  the  first  impor- 
tant opportunity  and  stimulus  to  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  goods  in  America.  During  a  series  of 
years  there  was  a  pretty  rigid  protection  from 
foreign  rivalry,  and  the  new  industry  began  to 
get  upon  its  feetr  although  it  still  had  long  to 
wait  for  its  better  machinery,  or  even  for  ample 
supplies  of  raw  material  from  the  slowly  opening 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  55 

cotton-fields  of  the  South.  Comfort  Tiffany  had 
many  obstacles  to  contend  with  as  a  pioneer  in 
a  new  industry,  and  some  of  these  were  of  a 
commercial  nature,  coming  with  the  return  of 
peace  and  competition.  His  eldest  son,  Charles, 
was  therefore  born  into  a  species  of  technical 
school,  and  grew  up  through  a  course  of  inci- 
dental instruction  in  all  that  was  then  known  of 
the  art-business  of  adopting  or  devising  patterns, 
varying  or  improving  fabrics,  or  providing  in 
advance  for  anticipated  or  supposable  changes 
in  the  popular  taste  and  demand. 

There  were  other  schools  at  and  near  Kill- 
ingly,  and  Charles  received  his  primary  educa- 
tion in  "  the  little  red  school-house "  at  Daniel- 
sonville,  a  typical  New  England  district  school. 
He  afterward  spent  two  years  at  the  Plainfield 
Academy,  about  ten  miles  from  his  own  home. 
This  was  at  that  time  a  somewhat  noted  school, 
presided  over  by  John  Witter,  a  Yale  College 
graduate  and  tutor.  While  young  Tiffany  was 
at  Plainfield  his  father  organized  a  company, 
called  the  Brooklyn  Manufacturing  Company,  for 
larger  manufacturing  operations.  They  bought 
half  of  the  water  privilege  on  the  Brooklyn 
side  of  the  Quinnebaug  River,  opposite  Daniel- 
sonville.  While  their  new  mill  was  building, 
Comfort  Tiffany  opened  a  little  country  store, 
took  his  son  Charles  out  of  school  and  put  him 
in  charge  of  it.  The  young  merchant  was  but 
fifteen  years  old,  but  then  his  store  was  also  very 
small  and  young.  He  kept  the  accounts  of  the 
business,  and  after  it  became  pretty  firmly  estab- 


56  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

lished  he  made  a  number  of  trips  to  New  York 
for  merchandise. 

About  a  year  after  the  new  mill  was  opened 
Mr.  Tiffany  removed  his  residence  to  the  Brook- 
lyn side  of  the  river.  At  the  same  time  he  bought 
out  his  associates,  and  the  cotton-goods  manu- 
facturing went  on  under  the  firm  name  of  C. 
Tiffany  &  Son.  The  country-store  business  had 
developed  so  well  that  a  larger  place  was  ob- 
tained for  it,  and  the  management  of  it  was 
given  to  other  hands,  so  that  Charles  L.  Tif- 
fany could  take  up  his  books  again.  Several 
terms  at  the  Brooklyn  Academy  completed  this 
part  of  his  education.  Leaving  school  behind 
him  at  last,  he  went  into  his  father's  cotton 
factory  as  a  student  of  business  methods  under 
a  shrewd  and  capable  instructor.  He  even 
completed  his  course,  so  to  speak,  and  was 
graduated  into  the  factory  business ;  but  its  ap- 
parent prospects  were  not  tempting.  The  days 
of  cotton-mill  prosperity  were  at  hand,  but  they 
had  not  come,  and  young  Tiffany,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five,  decided  to  go  out  from  home  in 
search  of  something  better  adapted  to  the  pecul- 
iar faculties  he  believed  himself  to  possess.  He 
had  worked  hard,  and  his  habits  had  been  all  that 
could  be  asked  for,  but  the  pay  had  been  only 
too  moderate,  without  a  possibility  for  accumu- 
lation, and  he  had  no  capital  of  his  own.  His 
former  school-fellow  and  firm  friend,  John  B. 
Young,  was  in  the  same  condition,  financially, 
but  he  had  gone  out  six  months  earlier,  and  was 
now,  in  1837,  employed  in  a  stationery  and  fancy- 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY 


57 


goods  store  in  New  York  City.  Here  he  was 
joined  by  Tiffany  in  the  early  summer,  and  to- 
gether they  made  a  thorough  study  of  the  busi- 
ness possibilities. 


Mr.  Tiffany  when  Twenty-eight  Years  of  Age. 

To  the  eyes  of  most  men,  there  hardly  seemed 
to  be  any,  for  it  was  a  dull,  dead  time,  when 
commerce,  trade,  and  manufactures  were  pros- 
trated by  the  sweeping  financial  hurricane  of 
the  great  Panic  of  '37.  Perhaps  it  was  not  so  bad 
a  time  for  a  beginner,  after  all,  considering  what 


58 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


an  immense  number  of  the  older  concerns  had 
suddenly  disappeared.  They  were  at  the  very 
bottom  of  the  hill,  but  Mr.  Young  believed  he 
knew  something  of  the  line  he  had  served  in  for 
half  a  year,  and  Mr.  Tiffany  had  ideas  of  his  own. 
Mr.  Comfort  Tiffany  approved  of  his  son's  un- 
dertaking, and  loaned  the  young  adventurers  five 


The  Store  Opposite  City  Hall. 

hundred  dollars  each.  Upon  this  capital  they 
launched  the  firm  of  Tiffany  &  Young,  after 
painfully  searching  for  and  finding  a  salesroom 
over  which  they  could  put  up  their  modest  sign. 
They  could  not  think  of  going  down  town  among 
the  costlier  buildings  around  what  was  then 
the  centre  of  trade,  near  Trinity  Church,  and  yet 
they  were  criticized  as  rash  in  establishing  them- 
selves so  far  up  Broadway  as  No.  259,  opposite 
the  middle  of  City  Hall  Park.  Mr.  Tiffany  was 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  59 

much  encouraged  in  making  his  selection  by  the 
fact  that  a  young  dry-goods  merchant  named 
Alexander  T.  Stewart,  who  had  opened  an  estab- 
lishment two  doors  above,  was  known  to  be  doing 
very  well.  In  after  years  he  continued  to  have 
great  confidence  in  that  man's  capacity  as  a 
salesman.  The  building  obtained  was  one-half 
of  a  respectable  double  dwelling-house.  Each 
front  was  fifteen  feet  in  width,  and  the  half  be- 
tween them  and  Stewart's  was  occupied  by  a 
fashionable  dressmaker  named  Scheltema.  The 
rent  was  moderate,  and  the  front  room,  once  a 
parlor,  but  now  altered  to  suit  their  purposes, 
was  large  enough  to  display  the,  stock  of  station- 
ery and  fancy  goods  provided  by  their  slender 
capital.  They  were  not  yet  ambitious  enough  to 
think  of  jewelry,  but  presented  an  array  of  Chi- 
nese pottery  and  other  goods,  Japanese  lacquer 
work,  terra-cotta  wares,  umbrellas,  walking-sticks, 
cabinets,  fans,  leather  work,  bric-a-brac,  station- 
ery, and  miscellaneous  "  notions."  It  was  some- 
thing new  and  out  of  any  beaten  track  with 
which  the  city  shoppers  were  then  familiar,  but 
that  was  by  no  means  the  special  attraction  of 
the  place.  Its  charm  was  that  whatever  it  con- 
tained was  so  well  presented.  The  very  show 
of  goods  was  a  work  of  art,  and  every  selection 
had  been  made  with  good  taste  and  good  judg- 
ment. There  could  not  be  a  grand  opening, 
largely  advertized,  but  on  the  i8th  of  September, 
1837,  the  little  snoP  was  ready  for  customers. 
Hardly  any  came,  and  three  days  went  by  with 
an  aggregate  of  sales  amounting  to  only  $4.98. 


60  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

One  day  more  added  $2.77,  but  those  who  came 
in  to  make  these  petty  purchases  went  away  to 
tell  what  a  pretty  place  they  had  seen,  and  others 
also  came  to  see.  The  good  taste,  with  some- 
thing allied  to  it  in  the  manner  of  meeting  cus- 
tomers, operated  remarkably.  Lower  Broadway 
was  then  the  fashionable  promenade  of  a  pleasant 
autumn  day,  and  shoppers  on  their  way  to  the 
great  establishments  below  the  Park  were  almost 
sure  to  glance  at  a  show  window  so  filled  that  it 
was  a  kind  of  picture.  Sales  increased,  and  with 
the  growth  of  business  it  was  easy  to  obtain  con- 
signments of  various  kinds,  including  works  of 
art,  which  greatly  aided  the  desired  effect  of 
making  all  things  work  together  as  an  invitation 
for  people  with  purses  to  come  in.  A  few  weeks 
later,  the  cash-book  began  to  look  encourag- 
ing, for  on  the  day  before  Christmas  the  sales 
amounted  to  $236,  and  then,  after  a  busy  holiday- 
week,  the  day  before  New  Year's  Day  brought 
in  $675.  The  latter  was  then  "gift  day,"  as 
Christmas  is  now. 

After  that,  success  seemed  to  be  assured  and 
the  character  and  quantity  of  the  stock  present- 
ed for  sale  improved  continually.  Mr.  Tiffany's 
constant  effort,  studied  from  hour  to  hour,  was 
to  obtain  and  offer  the  very  best  that  he  could 
obtain  with  the  means  at  his  disposal.  There 
was  a  constant  watch  and  search  of  the  import- 
ing houses  for  whatever  would  serve  to  increase 
the  growing  reputation  of  the  young  concern, 
refusing  anything  which  did  not  seem  to  agree 
with  the  intended  tone  and  effect,  even  if  promis- 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  61 

ing  temporary  profits.  As  for  things  acceptable, 
almost  any  manufacturer  or  importer  was  now 
willing  to  place  wares  in  so  popular  a  salesroom. 
How  great  was  the  success  actually  gained  may 
be  fairly  measured  by  the  first  misfortune  that 
befell  the  house  of  Tiffany  &  Young.  On  the 
morning  of  January  i,  1840,  thieves  broke  in  and 
stole  almost  everything  that  could  be  carried 
away,  to  the  amount  of  about  $4,000,  four  times 
the  original  capital ;  but  all  the  holiday  sales  had 
been  already  made  and  the  young  merchants  had 
carried  their  cash  home  with  them.  They  were 
therefore  the  better  able  to  start  well  with  the  new 
year,  and  before  the  end  of  it  their  growing  busi- 
ness required  them  to  take  in  the  next  building, 
Mr.  Stewart  having  removed,  and  they  now  had 
a  frontage  of  forty-five  feet  on  Broadway,  with  a 
show  window  on  Warren  Street.  Once  more, 
under  the  unerring  eye  of  Mr.  Tiffany,  an  effort 
at  "art  effect"  was  made,  with  the  aid  of  Bohe- 
mian glassware,  French  and  Dresden  porcelain, 
cutlery,  and  clocks.  Nothing  worth  mentioning 
had  as  yet  been  done  in  jewelry,  but  an  enter- 
prise in  that  direction  was  under  discussion.  It 
was  not  to  be  undertaken,  in  the  ordinary  hum- 
drum way,  making  the  concern  only  one  more 
rival  of  the  seemingly  sufficient  number  which 
were  already  attending  to  the  jewelry  business. 

The  firm  itself  was  reorganized  by  the  admis- 
sion of  another  partner,  Mr.  J.  L.  Ellis,  the  new 
firm-name  being  Tiffany,  Young  &  Ellis,  each 
member  having  his  own  specialty  and  responsi- 
bility. The  next  step  was  a  very  long  one  for  a 


62  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

house  not  four  years  old.  The  manufactures 
of  the  United  States  were  still  in  their  infancy. 
In  many  lines  there  was  hardly  an  effort  to  com- 
pete with  imported  wares.  The  greater  part 
of  the  goods  dealt  in  by  Tiffany  &  Young  had 
been  brought  to  this  country  without  any  oppor- 
tunity given  them  for  the  exercise  of  taste  or 
judgment  in  deciding  beforehand  what  should 
come.  They  were  confident  that  they  knew 
better  than  other  men  the  requirements  of  their 
increasing  clientage  of  customers.  At  the  same 
time  they  had  only  a  defective  knowledge  of,  and 
no  direct  relation  with,  the  manufactories  and 
salesrooms  of  Europe.  It  was  therefore  decided 
that  Mr.  Young  should  be  sent  to  Europe  upon 
a  general  exploring  tour,  with  the  intention  of 
enabling  the  house  to  do  thenceforth,  as  much 
as  possible,  its  own  importing.  He  was  especially 
to  search  for  novelties,  and  provide  the  Tiffany 
art  warerooms  with  articles  not  to  be  obtained 
elsewhere  in  the  city.  The  councils  of  the  firm 
were  perfected,  and  he  sailed  for  Europe.  It  was 
indeed  something  new,  for  while  many  European 
houses  sent  travelling  salesmen  to  America  in 
those  days,  hardly  any  American  houses,  in  any 
line,  had  the  presumption  to  send  travelling  pur- 
chasers to  the  Old  World. 

Mr.  Young's  inspection  was  widely  extended. 
He  discovered  a  long  list  of  attractions,  and  made 
beginnings  of  a  number  of  important  business 
relations.  Probably  the  most  important  of  all 
were  those  which  related  to  jewelry.  At  Hanau 
and  Frankfort,  Germany,  and  in  Paris,  were 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  63 

found  manufacturers  of  better  grades  of  cheap 
jewelry  than  were  previously  known  upon  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  There  were  shops  in  New 
York  and  elsewhere  which  offered  a  superabun- 
dance of  inferior  goods,  but  here  was  something 
of  real  merit.  The  materials  and  workmanship 
were  good,  the  designs  were  artistic ;  while  the 
profits  to  be  realized  were  all  that  could  be  asked 
for.  No  great  amount  of  capital  needed  to  be 
risked  in  a  sufficiently  showy  beginning,  and  the 
new  departure  was  made. 

On  November  30,  1841,  not  long  after  Mr. 
Young's  return  from  Europe,  the  partnership 
ties  already  existing  were  strengthened  by  the 
marriage  of  Mr.  Tiffany  to  his  sister,  Miss  Har- 
riet Olivia  Young. 

The  results  of  the  new  European  connections 
were  rapidly  manifested,  for  whoever  desired 
ornaments  at  a  low  price  was  willing  to  visit  the 
one  house  which  offered  them  the  very  best. 
The  other  novelties  of  all  kinds  added  to  the  at- 
tractiveness of  the  now  well-known  salesroom, 
and  strangers  visiting  the  city  came  to  it  as  to 
one  of  the  "sights."  Before  long,  real  gold-  and 
silverware  began  to  make  an  appearance,  and 
every  piece  of  it  was  made  the  most  of  under  the 
critical  eye  of  Mr.  Tiffany.  He  felt  that  he  had 
gained  a  genuine  business  victory,  moreover, 
when  it  began  to  be  the  custom  for  rich  and 
cultured  people  to  ask  each  other,  on  meeting, 
whether  or  not  they  had  seen  the  latest  imported 
novelty  in  the  precious  metals  on  exhibition  at 
Tiffany's. 


64  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Better  grades  of  English  jewelry  began  to 
supplant  the  German  manufactures,  and  these 
were  followed  by  the  best  work  of  Florence, 
Rome,  and  Paris.  It  was  a  steady  advance  upon 
a  predetermined  line,  the  one  idea  of  art  perfec- 
tion controlling  each  step. 


The  Store  on  the  Corner  of  Broadway  and  Chambers  Street  in    1847. 

The  first  ten  years  of  success,  uninterrupted 
except  by  the  robbery  on  New  Year's  Day,  1840, 
found  the  old  quarters  too  narrow,  and  there 
was  a  removal,  in  1847,  to  the  corner  of  Cham- 
bers Street,  at  271  Broadway,  just  a  little  be- 
low Stewart's.  The  new  store  was  not  only  lar- 
ger, but  vastly  more  convenient ;  and  in  the 
following  year,  1848,  the  firm  began  to  manu- 
facture gold  jewelry  upon  its  own  account,  with 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  65 

a  cessation  of  a  large  part  of  its  importations. 
Perhaps  at  no  previous  date,  nor  in  any  other 
department,  had  the  peculiar  faculties,  and  what 
was  now  the  training  of  Mr.  Tiffany  in  sound 
principles  of  applied  art,  proved  so  valuable  an 
element  of  business  success.  The  character  of 
the  work  turned  out  rapidly  established  its  repu- 
tation, even  when  it  was  compared  with  the  best 
importations  offered  by  his  own  or  other  houses. 
He  had  indeed  been  a  close  and  thoughtful  stu- 
dent of  art  effects  of  every  name  and  nature,  and 
had  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  clas- 
sic, the  antique,  as  well  as  of  the  best  achieve- 
ments of  every  modern  school,  for  there  was 
hardly  anything  in  his  warerooms  or  workrooms 
which  did  not  operate  as  an  object-lesson. 

Now,  step  after  step,  another  class  of  lessons 
was  brought  before  him,  for  precious  stones  of 
increasing  value  and  variety  were  added  to  the 
stock.  No  other  house  in  the  city  was  doing  a 
larger  business,  but  this  branch  was  of  slow  de- 
velopment on  account  of  the  amount  of  capital 
locked  up  by  its  requirements.  Gems  came  first, 
followed  by  all  the  brilliant  category  of  nature's 
wonders ;  and  Mr.  Tiffany  acquired  the  art  within 
an  art  which  understands  the  subtle  fascination 
of  each  individual  stone,  and  can  advise  its  judi- 
cious treatment  by  the  practical  lapidary.  It  was, 
after  all,  only  the  more  thorough  education  of 
the  faculty  which  had  managed  so  well  the  pres- 
entation of  the  Japanese  fans  and  knick-knacks 
in  the  first  show-window  he  had  arranged  on 
Broadway.  There  are  a  multitude  of  men,  how- 


66  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

ever,  who  can  do  very  well  in  the  lower  grades 
of  any  art,  while  they  seem  unable  to  climb  high- 
er. Not  so  many  are  needed,  perhaps,  in  the 
upper  stories  of  the  art  temple. 

It  was  in  strict  relation  to  the  increase  of  such 
a  business  that  the  wealth  and  culture  of  Amer- 
ica, and  especially  of  the  city  of  New  York,  was 
advancing  so  wonderfully.  In  commercial  and 
financial  standing  among  the  cities  of  the  world, 
and  in  all  its  social  features,  the  great  seaport 
of  the  New  World  was  putting  off  its  old  provin- 
cial character.  On  one  side  it  was  assuming 
a  marked  relation  to  the  whole  nation  and  on 
the  other  it  was  becoming  cosmopolitan.  All 
its  bonds  of  supposed  subserviency  to  any  ideas 
of  European  superiority  were  breaking  rapidly. 
America  and  its  chief  city  were  gaining  freedom 
in  art  and  literature  as  in  politics,  and  Mr.  Tif- 
fany exercised  a  noteworthy  agency  in  the  con- 
tinuous processes.  At  every  stage  of  advance- 
ment, from  the  day  in  which  he  left  his  father's 
cotton-mill,  he  had  evinced  great  keenness  ot 
business  forecast  and  a  tendency  to  be  boldly 
ready  for  dealing  with  coming  events,  or  even 
with  sudden  emergencies.  It  is  a  trait  of  every 
strong  and  successful  business  character.  Its  im- 
portance is  enhanced  by  the  well-perceived  truth 
that  the  great  opportunities  of  life  seem  to  come 
unexpectedly.  Then  those  who  are  not  ready 
can  only  stand  still  and  see  the  chance  go  by. 
Very  often,  indeed,  the  disasters  of  one  man  fur- 
nish  the  opportunity  of  another,  as  was  now  to 
be  forcibly  illustrated. 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  67 

The  dealings  of  the  house  placed  them  in  close 
relations  with  Parisian  jewellers.  The  French 
capital  in  1848  became  a  kind  of  revolutionary 
chaos,  in  which  the  ordinary  processes  of  borrow- 
ing- and  lending  money  were  suspended.  The 
rich  and  titled  classes,  purchasers  of  precious 
stones  in  time  of  peace,  were  the  greatest  suf- 
ferers from  the  current  disturbances.  They  were 
under  a  sharp  necessity  for  turning  their  jewels 
into  cash  and  their  excessive  offerings  made 
them  so  many  "bears"  upon  the  diamond  mar- 
ket. Prices  were  forced  down  to  fifty  per  cent, 
of  peace  valuations  and  European  buyers  even 
then  held  timidly  aloof.  At  the  first  sugges- 
tion of  the  coming  opportunity  Mr.  Tiffany  and 
his  partners  began  to  make  their  financial  prep- 
arations. They  had  money  of  their  own  to  use, 
and  they  were  able  to  obtain  as  much  more  as 
they  needed.  Every  spare  dollar  went  across 
the  water  after  diamonds,  to  be  brought  home 
and  stored  away  until  called  out  from  the 
vaults  by  the  demands  of  American  buyers.  As 
soon  as  the  European  turmoil  was  over  all 
could  have  been  returned  and  sold  abroad  with 
profit,  but  there  was  yet  another  purpose  in- 
cluded in  the  general  plan  of  operation.  The 
purchases  in  Paris,  conducted  personally  by  Mr. 
Young  and  by  Mr.  Banks,  the  head  of  the  jew- 
elry department,  had  been  half-way  a  romance, 
for  they  had  been  jealously  watched  and  were  at 
one  time  actually  under  arrest  as  "  political  sus- 
pects." They  had  exercised  courage,  finesse,  di- 
plomacy, as  well  as  mercantile  acuteness  and 


68  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

expert  knowledge,  and  now  the  fruit  of  their 
daring  and  address  was  to  be  something  more 
than  speculation,  for  the  house  determined  to 
step  forward  into  the  front  place  among  Ameri- 
can diamond  merchants  permanently. 

Apart  from  any  other  beauty,  there  is  a  value 
attaching  to  some  gems  from  their  historic  asso- 
ciation, and  hardly  anything  else  is  more  subtle 
or  requires  a  keener  perception  of  the  demands 
of  cultivated  "  taste  "  and  connoisseurship.  Not 
only  one  by  one,  but  in  large  lots,  the  historic 
stones  of  Europe  began  to  drift  toward  the 
sparkling  show-cases  of  the  American  house. 
Among  the  earlier  purchases  came  the  zone  of 
diamonds  worn  by  the  ill-fated  Marie  Antoinette. 
A  few  years  later,  when  the  famous  Esterhazy 
diamonds  were  sold,  Tiffany  &  Co.  paid  a  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  for  their  selections.  At 
the  sale  of  the  French  crown  jewels,  in  1887,  one- 
third  of  all  was  bought  by  them,  at  a  cost  of 
about  half  a  million.  Many  another  glittering 
memorial  came,  from  time  to  time,  and  each  in 
turn  added  something  to  the  peculiar  business 
character  sought  to  be  established.  It  took  its 
place  in  line  with  a  predetermined  policy. 

From  his  first  attempt  as  a  manufacturer,  Mr. 
Tiffany,  with  the  enthusiastic  co-operation  of  his 
associates,  had  proposed  the  attainment  of  the 
best  possible  art  results  in  silverware.  It  was 
his  ambition  to  rival,  in  purity  of  metal  and  in 
fineness  of  workmanship,  the  historic  silver- 
smiths of  Europe.  The  beginning  was  neces- 
sarily small,  as  to  the  size  of  the  shop,  but  it  was 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  69 

liberal  in  its  judicious  hunt  for  and  employment 
of"  workmen  cunning  in  silver."  The  little  shop 
grew  until  it  was  a  huge  block  of  brick  and 
iron,  on  Prince  Street,  and  the  workmen  num- 
bered five  hundred.  At  the  same  time  the 
policy  of  absolute  fineness  in  metallic  quality 
obtained  for  the  stamp  of  the  firm  the  same 
authority  as  in  Europe  attaches  to  the  "  hall- 
mark" stamp  of  the  British  government;  it  in- 
dicates a  standard  of  y9^-  pure  silver. 

In  1853  the  firm  was  again  reorganized,  Mr. 
Young  and  Mr.  Ellis  retiring,  several  junior 
partners  coming  in,  and  the  name  changing  to 
its  present  style  of  Tiffany  &  Co.  Without  de- 
traction from  the  ability  or  services  of  any  of 
the  builders  of  the  house,  this  had  been  really 
the  name,  in  the  minds  of  the  public,  before  that 
day.  As  before  the  change,  though  now  in  a 
wider,  more  perfect  system,  each  of  the  several 
departments  of  the  extended  business  was  un- 
der a  responsible  head,  but  the  united  opera- 
tions were  controlled  by  the  art  purpose  of  the 
directing  artist,  who  was  not  himself  a  handi- 
craftsman of  any  kind. 

In  the  following  year,  1854,  still  larger  accom- 
modations were  obtained  by  a  removal  to  No.  550 
Broadway,  and  again  it  was  said  that  the  house 
had  gone  too  far  uptown.  Perhaps  it  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  a  quick  perception  of  historic  values,  that 
Mr.  Tiffany,  in  1858,  bought  up,  promptly,  the 
unused  miles  of  the  first  Atlantic  cable,  cut 
them  up,  mounted  them  in  various  styles,  and 
sold  them  to  an  eager  multitude  as  souvenirs. 


70  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

During  all  these  years  Mr.  Tiffany  had  been 
a  public-spirited  citizen,  but  he  had  never  taken 
any  active  part  in  politics.  It  hardly  seemed 
possible  that  he  should  at  any  time  do  so,  but  he 
did  effectively,  and  that  too  in  the  direct  line  of 
his  own  business. 

The  winter  of  1860  and  the  early  spring  of 
1861  brought  the  first  muttering  thunders  of  the 
civil  war  to  the  ears  of  the  people  of  New  York 
City.  It  must  be  said  that  the  first  responses 
were  by  no  means  bold  or  patriotic.  The  timid, 
captious,  wavering,  were  in  a  large  majority. 
There  came  a  time  of  intense  depression.  Most 
men  were  irresolute,  for  the  future  of  the  country 
looked  very  dark  indeed.  It  did  not  seem  so  to 
Mr.  Tiffany,  although  it  was  not  easy  to  see 
what  a  silversmith  could  do  in  case  of  war.  But 
the  Sumter  gun  sounded,  and  at  once  the  great 
Tiffany  shop-front  on  Broadway  blazed  with 
flags,  while  the  windows  were  a  glitter  of  steel 
and  gold.  Mr.  Tiffany  himself  hurried  to  sub- 
mit to  Quartermaster-General  Meigs  a  complete 
model  of  the  equipments  of  the  French  army, 
then  supposed  to  be  the  best  in  Europe.  Even 
the  jewels  and  silverware  in  his  salesrooms  were 
pushed  aside  to  make  room  for  military  supplies. 
His  agents  in  Europe  were  ordered  to  send  over 
weapons,  ambulances,  army  shoes,  all  manner  of 
war  materials,  instead  of  works  of  art ;  but  to 
send  the  best.  At  once,  as  if  from  general  rec- 
ognition, orders  began  to  pour  in  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  and  he  was  compelled  to  enlarge 
his  premises  by  adding  the  adjoining  store,  No. 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  71 

552  Broadway,  to  handle  the  new  line  of  goods 
in.  Manufacture  followed  the  first  hasty  pur- 
chases, and  the  artists  of  the  house  were  busied 
with  army  badges,  corps  and  other ;  with  pres- 
entation medals;  with  the  hilts  and  blades  of 
swords  of  honor,  and  with  the  numberless  flags 
and  banners  carried  by  the  hosts  that  poured 
southward  to  the  battlefields  of  the  republic. 

Mr.  Tiffany's  activity  went  out  in  attendance 
at  patriotic  public  meetings ;  in  liberal  cash  con- 
tributions; in  vigorous  support  of  the  Govern- 
ment wherever  he  could  find  a  place  to  give  it ; 
and  he  became  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Union 
League  Club.  It  is  beyond  all  question  that 
such  an  establishment  as  his,  so  acting,  under 
such  patriotic  inspiration,  was  one  of  the  great 
helps  of  the  national  cause. 

During  the  draft  riot,  in  1863,  when  the  mob 
was  moving  down  Broadway,  after  burning  and 
plundering  a  number  of  dwellings  and  business 
houses  up-town,  word  came  that  its  next  errand 
was  the  looting  of  Tiffany's.  There  were  prizes 
there  of  peculiar  attraction  for  banditti,  but  Mr. 
Tiffany  made  prompt  and  vigorous  preparations 
for  defence.  The  doors  and  windows  were 
strongly  barricaded,  weapons  were  distributed 
to  the  employees,  and  the  garrison  was  ready  to 
defend  a  business  fort.  It  is  related  that  Mr. 
Tiffany  insisted  on  charging  with  his  own  hands 
the  hand-grenades  and  bombs  which  were  to  be 
cast  from  the  upper  windows  upon  any  assaulting 
mob-force.  That  no  assault  was  made  was  only 
because  of  the  decisive  defeat  of  the  mob,  just 


72  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

above  Bleecker  Street,  by  a  strong  detachment 
of  police. 

There  was  a  continual  expansion  of  business 
operations  during  the  war  years,  and  another  re- 
organization became  necessary.  The  firm  be- 
came a  corporation,  in  1868,  with  Mr.  Tiffany  as 
president,  with  a  branch  house  in  London,  and 
with  a  watch-factory,  the  largest  in  Switzerland, 
at  Geneva. 

Already,  in  1867,  the  Tiffany  display  of  domes- 
tic silverware  had  gained  the  first  award  at  the 
Paris  Exposition,  and  now  the  house  which 
began  as  an  importer  of  such  goods  was  export- 
ing large  amounts  of  American  silver  art-work 
to  Europe.  One  after  another  the  crowned  heads 
and  royal  personages  of  the  Old  World,  in  a  long 
procession,  made  Mr.  Tiffany  their  "  silversmith 
by  appointment,"  while  he  received  from  Russia 
the  insignia  of  the  Premia  Digno  and  from  France 
the  cross  of  a  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

Still,  the  drift  of  trade  was  up  the  island  and 
again  the  expanding  business  called  for  more 
room  and  better  accommodations.  The  old 
Church  of  the  Puritans,  at  the  corner  of  Broad- 
way and  Fifteenth  Street,  was  for  sale,  and  Tiffa- 
ny &  Co.  bought  it,  organ,  pews,  and  fittings  of 
every  name.  On  Broadway  the  frontage  was  sev- 
enty-eight feet  and  on  Fifteenth  Street  one  hun- 
dred and  forty.  On  this  ground  a  fire-proof  five- 
story  building  was  put  up  and  it  was  opened  for 
business  on  the  loth  of  November,  1870,  but 
the  crowds  that  poured  in  to  look  almost  pre- 
vented business. 


CHARLES  LOUIS  TIFFANY  73 

It  is  worth  while  to  place  beside  this  building 
a  mental  picture  of  the  little  salesroom  parlor  of 
the  narrow-fronted  dwelling,  away  down  Broad- 
way, in  1837.  If  that  was  only  as  an  acorn  to  an 
oak  compared  to  this,  nevertheless  the  life-germ 
was  there  or  there  could  have  been  no  such  vig- 
orous growth,  and  the  nature  of  the  vitality  may 
appear  upon  a  close  analysis  of  the  record. 

Here  is  a  great  manufactory,  turning  out  art 
products  in  endless  variety  ;  it  is  also  a  school  of 
design  and  workmanship.  The  vast  salesroom 
is  a  gallery  of  innumerable  masterpieces.  Here 
and  there  are  massive  safes,  and  under  all,  in 
deeply  sunken  vaults  and  crypts,  fire-proof  and 
thief-proof,  are  the  depositories  for  all  the  store 
of  gems  and  precious  metals  which  make  up 
the  accumulated  stock  of  the  foremost  jewelry 
house  of  America.  In  every  respect  the  costly 
structure  is  adapted  to  the  uses  of  the  regiment 
of  skilled  and  trusted  artists  which  occupies  it. 

Mr.  Tiffany  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  New 
York  Society  of  Fine  Arts.  He  is  also  a  trustee  of 
the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  and  of  the  Amer- 
ican Museum  of  Natural  History.  It  is  alto- 
gether fitting  that  he  should  also  be  a  Fellow  of 
the  National  Academy  of  Design  and  of  the  Geo- 
graphical Society.  Other  memberships  and  trus- 
teeships, social,  financial,  charitable,  attest  the 
position  he  has  attained  during  his  long  and 
useful  citizenship,  but  the  pleasantest  of  all  his 
personal  testimonials  are  his  family  ties  and  un- 
broken friendships. 

In  1841,  just  after  the  first  success  away  down 


74  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Broadway,  there  was  a  wedding,  and  fifty  years 
later,  in  a  stately  mansion  on  Madison  Avenue, 
there  was  another,  a  golden  wedding,  such  as 
no  jeweller  on  earth  can  make,  for  the  groom  and 
bride  of  the  first  wedding  now  gathered  their 
family  and  their  friends  in  the  house  of  their  old- 
est son. 


John   Roach. 


IV. 

JOHN    ROACH. 

THERE  are  exceptional  lives  whose  priceless 
lessons,  in  successes  or  in  seeming  failures,  ought 
not  to  go  unrecorded.  Not  by  any  means  the 
least  important  of  the  teachings  which  should  be 
preserved  are  to  be  sought  for  among  the  work- 
ings of  that  genius  which  patiently,  although  al- 
most unconsciously,  searches  within  itself  for  its 
own  natural  resources.  These  being  found,  from 
day  to  day,  the  battle  of  life  is  won  with  them,  in 
spite  of  all  imaginable  obstacles.  To  these  ob- 
stacles the  world  never  gives  due  weight,  in  any 
estimate  of  the  successes  attained.  It  may  be  im- 
possible to  do  so.  Nevertheless,  the  courage,  the 
endurance,  the  all  but  blind  reaching  out,  the  de- 
velopment and  exercise  of  inborn  abilities  which 
at  first  did  not  appear,  not  even  to  their  possessor, 
but  which  were  afterward  proved  and  seen  in 
actual  work  done,  must  be  set  forth  as  offering 
example  and  encouragement  of  a  high  order. 
Such  men  are  the  healthy  stimulus  of  other  men. 

At  Mitchellstown,  County  Cork,  Ireland,  on 
Christmas  Day,  1813,  John  Roach  came  into  the 
world.  His  father's  father  had  been  a  well-to-do 
merchant,  but  had  lost  his  property  through  in- 
dorsements of  other  men's  paper.  As  a  conse- 


76  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

quence,  the  next  generation  was  poor  in  purse, 
and  the  times  and  circumstances  were  altogether 
unfavorable.  There  was  hardly  any  darker  day 
for  Ireland  than  that  which  was  marked  for  all 
Europe  by  the  Napoleonic  wars  and  their  politi- 
cal consequences. 

The  Roach  family  traced  its  lineage  back  to 
gentle  blood.  There  was  a  further  effort  to  main- 
tain its  position,  and  John  was  sent  for  a  while  to 
such  schools  as  were  attainable,  but  he  received 
nothing  more  than  the  barest  beginnings  of  an 
education.  Books  were  a  luxury  almost  out  of 
the  question  where  the  struggle  was  almost  one 
of  life  and  death.  Almost  everything  seemed  to 
have  passed  away  except  a  kind  of  personal  pride, 
self-respect  in  a  tangible  form,  which  was  strong 
enough  to  operate  as  a  continual  stimulus.  In 
later  life  Mr.  Roach  told  a  friend  that  one  of  his 
greatest  incentives  to  effort,  when  a  boy,  was  the 
knowledge  that  his  ancestors  had  been  men  of 
good  degree.  Out  of  this,  apparently,  sprang  an 
ambition  to  climb  out  of  the  place  in  which  he 
found  himself  and  up  to  where  they  had  been,  or 
higher.  At  the  first  it  was  a  blind  and  all  but 
hopeless  feeling,  but  it  made  him,  at  the  least,  re- 
fuse many  evils  which  belonged  to  base  associa- 
tions, and  it  continually  bade  him  seek  for  and 
enter  the  paths  in  life  which  led  upward. 

The  parish  schools  of  Ireland  in  that  day  were 
in  a  wretchedly  crude  condition.  All  that  young 
Roach  obtained  from  them,  during  his  broken  at- 
tendance, was  a  rude  acquaintance  with  reading 
and  writing  ;  with  arithmetic  in  its  crudest  form  ; 


JOHN  ROACH  77 

and  with  such  other  ideas  relating  to  scholarship 
as  might  be  picked  up  in  the  most  scattering 
and  chance-medley  way.  He  was  never  able,  in 
after  years,  to  make  good  the  defects  of  that 
beginning.  Its  limits  were  a  kind  of  wall,  and 
yet  he  went  on  and  did  what  he  did  in  spite  of 
its  seemingly  insurmountable  restriction.  It  is 
true,  that  as  he  went  and  worked  another  kind  of 
education  came,  and  of  an  exceedingly  high  order, 
but  the  elementary  teaching,  with  all  its  aids  and 
all  its  technical  facilities  for  the  transaction  of 
business,  he  was  compelled  to  dispense  with. 

Out  of  school,  the  years  of  boyhood  were 
spent  very  much  as  were  those  of  other  Irish 
boys,  except  that  further  misfortunes  fell  upon 
the  family.  As  for  the  future,  there  was  really 
no  prospect  for  a  poor  Irish  boy  in  Ireland.  The 
industries  of  the  country  were  bound  hand  and 
foot  and  misgovernment  was  almost  forbidding 
the  people  the  means  of  living.  Every  remain- 
ing channel  or  avocation  was  filled  to  overflowing 
and  there  was  no  possibility  that  new  ones  might 
open.  Hardly  any  darker  future  could  have 
been  set  before  a  bright,  merry-hearted  young 
fellow,  with  a  fire  of  ambition  beginning  to  burn 
within  him. 

In  one  direction  only  was  there  any  sign  of 
blue  sky,  and  that  was  westward,  beyond  the 
broad  Atlantic.  There,  indeed,  fluttered  a  flag, 
every  star  of  which  seemed  to  shine  with  promise 
of  a  better  life  for  the  down-trodden  poor  of 
Ireland. 

America,   the    United    States,   was    the    new 


78  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

world  in  which  there  was  something  to  do  and 
liberty  to  do  it.  There  was  the  land  of  promise, 
but  for  John  Roach,  as  for  a  multitude  of  others, 
the  Atlantic  was  in  the  way. 

For  a  time  the  ocean  barrier  seemed  insuper- 
able, but  it  was  overcome  at  last,  and,  at  the  age 
of  fifteen,  he  was  provided  with  the  cheapest 
kind  of  steerage  passage  for  New  York.  It  was 
the  day  of  sailing  vessels  and  there  were  hard- 
ships to  be  endured  in  the  crowded  steerage,  but 
these  were  borne  with  boyish  cheerfulness.  The 
ship  went  westward  gallantly,  until  she  sailed 
in  through  the  Narrows,  anchored  off  Manhattan 
Island,  and  her  passengers  of  all  sorts  were  per- 
mitted to  go  ashore. 

John  Roach  was  now  in  America,  but  that  was 
about  all  that  he  could  say,  for  he  had  neither 
money  nor  friends,  nor  trade,  nor  probable  oc- 
cupation. He  had  no  distinct  idea  of  how  he 
was  to  support  himself,  but  he  had  a  jmost  cou- 
rageous faith  that  he  could  and  would  do  it.  He 
had  one  advantage  in  the  fact  that  all  the  Irish 
people  whom  he  met,  and  they  were  many,  had 
themselves  been  immigrants  and  understood  his 
case  warm-heartedly.  Moreover,  they  were  bet- 
ter able  than  they  would  have  been  in  the  old 
country  to  give  a  poor  boy  a  lift,  and  he  had, 
therefore,  something  better  before  him  than  rags 
and  starvation.  Guided  by  such  information  as 
was  given  him,  he  worked  his  way  over  into  New 
Jersey,  to  what  was  then  known  as  the  Howell 
Iron  Works,  owned  by  James  P.  Allaire.  Here 
a  stout  boy  of  fifteen,  ready  to  do  anything,  could 


JOHN  ROACH  79 

earn  a  bare  living  as  a  run-about  and  could  grow 
up  into  a  trade  and  regular  wages.  It  was  also 
a  place  where  an  uninstructed  waif  from  Ireland, 
without  guide  or  adviser,  could  easily  form  evil 
associations  and  detrimental  habits.  All  such 
enemies  of  success,  however,  were  firmly  put 
away,  and  it  was  not  long  before  fixed  religious 
principles  came  to  aid  in  resisting  the  tempta- 
tions which  kept  other  workingmen  down.  He 
saw  at  the  outset  that  no  boy  could  hope  to  rise 
under  a  burden  of  strong  drink  and  its  attendant 
wastefulness.  No  such  load  was  assumed  by 
young  Roach,  for  he  was  rigidly  temperate  in  all 
things.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  overflowing 
with  good  spirits  and  his  fund  of  wit  and  humor 
made  him  a  very  popular  fellow.  It  was  not 
long,  moreover,  before  his  associates  discovered 
that  his  geniality  and  steadiness  were  accom- 
panied by  soundness  of  judgment,  keenness,  and 
decision,  so  that  he  became  a  kind  of  leader 
among  them.  It  was  this  natural  leadership 
which  provided  him  with  a  kind  of  business 
capital  after  awhile.  He  was  a  born  foreman, 
as  soon  as  he  could  get  hold  of  anything  to  direct. 
With  the  faculty  came  also  something  very  like 
a  passion  for  directing,  and  it  led  him  to  attempt 
great  things.  Ten  years  went  by,  and,  in  a  rude, 
imperfect  way,  he  had  become  an  iron-worker. 
His  busy  mind,  however,  had  made  him  master 
ol  many  things  to  which  he  had  as  yet  no  oppor- 
tunity to  put  his  hands.  The  work  engaged  in 
was  too  often  painfully  severe  and  monotonous, 
a  grinding  toil  with  small  prospect  of  anything 


80  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

better  to  come  in  that  direction.  He  had  long 
since  earned  full  wages  and  he  had  thriftily  laid 
up  money. 

There  was  a  tide  of  migration  setting  toward 
the  West,  and  seductive  stories  were  told  of  the 
richness  of  the  prairies,  the  cheapness  of  land,  and 
the  certainty  of  easy  prosperity.  Roach  decided 
to  go  and  see,  and  he  went  as  far  as  Illinois.  The 
many  imperfections  in  the  methods  for  getting 
there  made  a  deep  impression  on  him,  but  he  also 
understood  at  a  glance  that  he  was  not  cut  out 
for  a  prairie  farmer.  The  raising  of  corn  and 
pork  had  in  it  nothing  in  accord  with  his  genius, 
as  he  was  beginning  to  understand  it.  Still,  the 
trip  to  Illinois  helped  him  to  know  himself.  It 
settled  his  conviction  that  his  vocation  was  con- 
struction, particularly  the  shaping  of  iron.  He 
was  no  machinist,  not  a  designer  or  draughtsman, 
not  an  engineer,  he  could  not  keep  accounts,  he 
could  not  write  a  business  letter,  he  knew  noth- 
ing of  commerce  nor  of  banking.  All  this  was 
true,  and  yet  concerning  all  these  things  and 
many  more  he  had  been  thinking,  studying,  and 
his  mind  was  teeming  with  ideas  that  he  could 
not  as  yet  formulate  nor  express.  He  returned 
to  New  York,  consulted  with  other  workmen, 
and  together  they  started  a  small  foundry.  This 
was  on  Goerck  Street,  and  was  the  germ  of  what 
was  afterward  known  as  the  ^Etna  Works.  The 
purpose  was  to  produce  "  architectural  iron- 
work," and  there  were  already  powerful  rivals  in 
that  line  of  business.  The  foreman  of  any  new 
competitor  required  to  be  a  capable  business 


JOHN  ROACH  81 

man  as  well  as  a  skilled  workman.  A  time  of 
severe  and  often  harassing  toil  was  therefore  en- 
tered upon,  and  besides  the  responsibilities  of 
the  shop,  those  of  the  family  were  often  pressing 
enough,  for  Mr.  Roach  was  now  a  married  man, 
with  half  a  dozen  or  more  of  very  young  children. 

As  the  small  capital  increased  it  was  applied 
to  the  "  plant,"  in  the  addition  of  steam-power 
and  improved  machinery,  and  a  long  range  of 
varied  work  came  in,  rising  from  grade  to  grade, 
as  it  could  be  obtained  or  dealt  with.  A  very 
good  degree  of  prosperity  was  obtained  and  the 
reputation  of  the  ^Etna  Works  was  becoming  es- 
tablished. Its  manager  saw  the  path  of  his  ambi- 
tion opening  before  him,  but  one  day  even  his  own 
steam-power  seemed  to  turn  against  him.  The 
boiler  in  his  engine-room  exploded,  with  disas- 
trous effect  upon  life  and  property.  In  one  mo- 
ment the  whole  concern  was  ruined,  and  John 
Roach,  after  all  his  years  of  hard  struggling,  was 
once  more  a  poor  man. 

It  was  one  of  those  occasions  which  test  and 
bring  out  all  there  is  in  a  man,  and  either  make 
or  mar  him.  If  any  of  his  associates  were  dis- 
couraged, he  was  not.  There  was  his  family, 
which  he  was  educating  for  the  grade  in  life  to 
which  he  believed  himself  and  them  to  belong. 
There  was  the  broad  field  of  enterprise  into 
which  he  had  been  looking  forward  from  year  to 
year,  as  his  first  successes  came.  Right  before 
his  face  were  the  shattered  ruins  of  his  works, 
and  he  said,  courageously  :  "  They  must  be 
started  again,  if  I  do  it  all  alone  !  " 
6 


82  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

That  was  the  very  thing  which  he  found  him- 
self compelled  to  do,  and  the  means  for  doing  it 
were  mainly  supplied  through  the  personal  char- 
acter he  had  built  up,  more  firmly  than  the  ^Etna 
Works,  for  capacity  and  integrity.  He  could 
obtain  credits  on  his  own  name,  and  the  business 
he  undertook  and  accomplished  speedily  set  him 
upon  his  feet.  He  had  now  developed  to  a  high 
degree  what  may  fairly  be  considered  as  his  dis- 
tinguishing characteristic.  Without  having  re- 
ceived, at  the  outset,  more  than  the  merest 
germs  of  technical  education,  he  had  discovered 
a  marvellous  ability  to  comprehend  the  plans  and 
work  of  other  men.  He  could  criticise  before- 
hand the  defects  or  the  performances  of  compli- 
cated machines  and  massive  engineering.  He 
had  become  an  excellent  reader  of  other  men,  as 
well  as  of  varied  mechanism.  He  was  therefore 
ready  to  undertake  important  offerings  of  work 
as  fast  he  could  discover  and  employ  other  men, 
differently  endowed  and  trained,  to  whom  he 
could  intrust  the  designing  of  details  and  the 
processes  of  construction  over  which  he  was  to 
preside  as  director.  With  reference  to  these,  he 
could  say  "  no  "  or  "  yes  "  from  point  to  point, 
concerning  any  form  of  stone  or  metal  as  its  idea 
was  brought  before  him. 

He  had  been  dealing  with  such  ideas,  in  the 
busy  workshop  of  his  fertile  brain,  from  the 
beginning  of  his  rude  apprenticeship.  His  ripe 
capacity  declared  the  results  of  an  internal  edu- 
cation, obtained  through  years  of  ceaseless  think- 
ing, while  carrying  on  his  roughest  and  most 


JOHN  ROACH  83 

laborious  business.  It  may  have  been  almost  an 
aid  to  him,  in  this  regard,  that  the  excessive 
heats  of  his  earlier  moulding-rooms  and  the  deaf- 
ning  clamors  of  the  boiler-shops  had  greatly 
injured  his  hearing.  He  was  compelled  to  think 
rather  than  talk,  and  he  would  not  read  anything 
which  did  not  furnish  him  with  some  incentive 
or  other  to  hard  thinking. 

Mr.  Roach  had  become  an  uncommonly  good 
business  man,  in  a  well-understood  use  of  the 
term,  although  he  had  not  meddled  with  sci- 
entific book-keeping.  He  could,  for  instance, 
make  exceedingly  close  estimates  of  the  cost 
of  labor  and  materials  required  for  any  de- 
scribed work,  while  the  changing  conditions  of 
his  finances  were  recorded  in  his  own  brain 
very  nearly  as  accurately  as  upon  the  account- 
books  kept  by  his  book-keeper  and  his  bankers. 

As  his  name  became  better  known,  the  best 
engineers,  inventors,  craftsmen  came  to  him 
with  their  ideas  and  their  offers  of  co-operation. 
So  did  a  swarm  of  adventurers  and  visionaries, 
and  with  these  also  he  was  prepared  to  deal  with 
a  shrewdness  which  was  very  apt  to  express 
itself  humorously. 

His  acquaintance  with  financiers  grew  wider 
and  capital  was  more  and  more  readily  placed 
at  his  disposal,  while  his  own  capital  grew,  his 
"  plant "  increased,  and  he  was  able,  year  after 
year,  to  undertake  and  carry  to  success  larger 
and  larger  contacts. 

The  yEtna  Works  and  their  manager  had 
gained  a  high  reputation  for  large  performances, 


84  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

but  there  were  those  who  freely  prophesied  a 
failure  when,  in  1860,  John  Roach  was  the  lowest 
bidder  and  obtained  from  the  city  of  New  York 
the  contract  for  the  great  iron  draw-bridge,  piers 
and  all,  over  the  Harlem  River,  on  Third 
Avenue. 

There  was  nothing  else  precisely  like  it  in  all 
the  land,  for  its  required  strength  was  enormous. 
The  piers  and  their  masonry  were  not  unlike 
what  men  were  already  familiar  with,  although 
there  were  serious  questions  relating  to  their 
foundations.  The  avenue  itself,  however,  was  to 
go  on  over  the  bridge,  and  the  middle  of  this, 
a  hundred  feet  in  length  and  of  full  width,  was 
to  swing  around  upon  a  pivot,  by  steam  power 
always  ready,  that  vessels  might  go  up  and  down 
the  Harlem.  Smaller  swinging  bridges  had 
been  made,  scores  of  them,  notably  in  Chicago. 
Greater  iron  concerns  might  have  built  this,  if 
they  had  received  the  contract,  but  could  John 
Roach  do  it?  Vast  interest  was  aroused,  for  the 
Harlem  Bridge  was  a  matter  of  exceeding  im- 
portance to  a  multitude  of  people  in  New  York 
and  Westchester  Counties.  It  was  a  kind  of  chal- 
lenge to  him,  involving  great  success  or  utter 
ruin.  He  had  taken  it  up,  and  now  every  part 
of  that  bridge  became  a  study  that  was  toiled 
upon  by  day  and  night.  But  then  it  had  been 
worked  out,  excepting  as  to  its  actual  details  pf 
construction,  before  he  put  in  his  bid  for  the  con- 
tract. The  business  marvel  had  been  performed 
before  a  stone  was  laid. 

The  bridge  was  built,  and  never  was  there  a 


86  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

more  complete  success  in  iron-work,  masonry, 
and  engineering.  Thirty  years  later  the  huge 
central  span  swings  around  upon  its  pivot-pier  as 
easily  and  as  accurately  as  if  it  did  not  weigh  ten 
pounds,  and  no  defect  has  been  discovered. 
When  it  swung  for  the  first  time,  however,  amid 
the  loud  acclamations  of  an  excited  throng,  who 
afterward  stepped  upon  it  almost  doubtfully,  a 
great  anxiety  was  lifted  from  the  mind  of  its  con- 
tractor and  he  too  seemed  to  pass  onward  over  a 
great  bridge  into  a  new  future. 

Several  more  years  of  very  good  success  added 
largely  to  Mr.  Roach's  financial  strength,  and  all 
the  while  his  ambition  had  been  pointing  out  a 
field  of  enterprise  which  appealed  to  him  with 
irresistible  power. 

The  civil  war  had  swept  from  the  high  seas  the 
American  flag  and  had  transferred  to  foreign 
keels  the  carrying  trade  between  the  United 
States  and  Europe.  The  day  of  wooden  ships 
seemed  almost  to  have  gone  by.  Side-wheel 
steamers  had  given  place  to  propellers.  Great 
hulls  of  iron,  score  on  score,  came  ploughing  the 
waters  around  New  York,  and  not  one  of  them 
was  made  by  American  labor  in  an  American 
ship-yard.  There  were  indeed  a  few  iron  ships 
in  the  United  States  Navy,  monitors  and  the  like, 
and  there  were  yards  for  building  them,  but  some- 
thing yet  was  lacking,  for  these  Avere  by  no 
means  doing  well.  The  fact  that  they  were  not, 
however,  presented  Mr.  Roach  with  the  very 
opportunity  he  longed  for.  He  believed  that  he 
could  succeed  where  other  men  had  failed,  and  he 


JOHN  ROACH  87 

pushed  forward.  In  1868  he  purchased  the  Mor- 
gan Works,  in  New  York  City,  with  a  fine  water- 
front and  docks.  The  Neptune  Works  followed, 
and  then  the  Allaire  and  the  Franklin  Forge,  but, 
all  put  together,  they  did  not  give  precisely  the 
facilities  required  by  the  man  who  was  all  the  while 
thinking  of  the  Clyde  and  its  tremendous  yearly 
output  of  English  iron  hulls.  He  was  also  obtain- 
ing the  most  minute  information  concerning  all 
the  methods  of  the  Clyde  builders.  Their  shops 
and  yards  contained  no  kind  of  appliance  the 
points  of  which,  good  or  bad,  he  had  not  thor- 
oughly comprehended. 

Down  on  the  Delaware  River,  at  Chester, 
Pennsylvania,  there  was  a  large  ship-yard,  that 
of  Rainey  &  Sons,  which  had  latterly  not  proved 
a  financial  success.  It  was  said  that  nearly  a 
million  and  a  quarter  of  dollars  had  been  ex- 
pended to  develop  it,  but  not  all  of  the  money  had 
been  wisely  employed  and  there  were  defects 
requiring  remedy.  For  less  than  three-quarters 
of  a  million,  in  1871,  Mr.  Roach  became  the  owner 
and  named  it  The  Delaware  River  Iron  Ship- 
building and  Engine  Works.  He  added  to  its 
area  until  the  entire  yard  contained  twenty  acres. 
He  increased  all  facilities  with  thoughtful  lib- 
erality until  the  entire  "plant"  was  moderately 
valued  at  two  millions  of  dollars.  There  were  pay- 
days, not  long  afterward,  when  the  long  lines  of 
men  who  marched  up  to  obtain  their  earnings 
numbered  two  thousand,  and  when  hundreds 
more  were  in  like  manner  being  paid  off  at  the 
New  York  shops.  The  ragged  Irish  boy  who 


88  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

could  find  nothing  to  do  was  now  providing 
whole  regiments  of  toilers  with  the  means  of  earn- 
ing liberal  wages.  For  each  and  all  of  them, 
as  could  be  seen  whenever  he  met  them,  their 
employer  felt  a  friendly,  kindly  interest,  as  being 
one  of  them,  with  a  perfect  understanding  of  the 
ways  and  feelings  and  interests  of  his  fellow- 
workingmen. 

It  was  not  the  work  of  a  day,  for  the  great 
"  plant "  grew  while  ship  after  ship  was  building, 
of  every  grade  and  kind  that  can  be  constructed 
out  of  iron.  Similar  building  went  on  in  the 
New  York  shops,  for  contracts  offered  rapidly. 

Now,  however,  as  business  multiplied  in  all 
directions,  another  of  Mr.  Roach's  natural  busi- 
ness qualifications  became  more  plainly  manifest. 
He  had  never  been  taught  any  part  of  the  tech- 
nicalities of  finance  or  of  banking,  but  he  was  a 
clear-headed,  far-sighted,  practical  financier.  The 
construction  of  a  great  steamship,  for  peace  or 
war,  with  several  others  in  hand  at  the  same 
time,  or  of  such  a  work  as  the  sectional  dry- 
dock  at  Pensacola,  Fla.,  with  a  multiplicity  of 
minor  work,  repairing,  rebuilding,  and  so  forth, 
calling  for  heterogeneous  outlays  ;  the  long  pay- 
rolls, which  could  not  be  postponed,  and  the  petty 
cash  expenditures  of  every  kind  from  day  to  day, 
required  a  perpetually  full  bank  account.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  heavier  payments  were  re- 
ceivable at  long  intervals  and  were  often  subject 
to  perilous  contingencies.  For  instance,  a  ship 
might  fail  of  speed  or  other  qualities  and  might 
be  rejected  by  the  government  or  by  a  corpora- 


JOHN  ROACH  89 

tion.  As  to  all  such  matters,  men  had  great  con- 
fidence in  Mr.  Roach  and  were  disposed  to  sus- 
tain him ;  but  he  was  going-  ahead  very  rapidly. 
There  were  rivalries,  jealousies,  even  enmities, 
and  his  every  danger  and  liability  was  narrowly 
watched  in  financial  circles. 

There  were  crises  occasionally,  when  the 
almost  overstrained  concern  seemed  to  totter, 
but  difficulty  after  difficulty  was  met  and  over- 
come, and  ship  after  ship  was  launched.  Large 
capital  had  to  be  tied  up  in  the  "  plant "  and  in 
materials,  and  there  were  corporations  asking 
for  ships  with  only  defective  credit  to  lean  upon. 
Always,  just  ahead,  there  was  a  kind  of  threat, 
and  it  might  have  dismayed  a  less  courageous 
and  self-reliant  manager.  Perhaps  one  element 
of  his  continued  power  to  meet  emergencies  was 
the  unwavering  cheerfulness  with  which  he 
could  encourage  dismayed  or  perplexed  asso- 
ciates. At  all  events,  there  was  hardly  any  other 
feature  of  his  business  achievement  in  which  he 
took  so  much  personal  pride  as  he  did  in  his 
finances  and  his  unique  methods  for  handling 
them. 

During  twelve  years  he  built  at  the  Chester 
Works  no  less  than  sixty-three  iron  steamships, 
and  fifty-one  of  various  grades  elsewhere,  mak- 
ing one  hundred  and  fourteen  in  all.  Among 
the  Chester-built  vessels  were  six  "  monitors," 
three  cruisers — the  Chicago,  Atlanta,  and  Boston 
— and  the  despatch  boat  Dolphin,  for  the  United 
States  Government.  Not  less  important  were 
the  huge  steamships  built  for  the  Pacific  line  of 


90 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


The  U.  S.   Cruiser  Chicago  at  Sea. 

the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company.  These,  and 
indeed  every  ship  turned  out  from  his  yards, 
brought  Mr.  Roach  into  close  relations  with  of- 
ficial and  legislative  circles  at  Washington.  He 
was  an  enthusiast  upon  the  general  subject  of 
American  ships  and  American  commerce.  Prob- 


JOHN  ROACH  91 

ably  no  man  understood  it  better,  but  he  was  not 
a  politician.  Naturally  patriotic,  his  individu- 
ality was  too  strong  to  be  confined  within  the 
barriers  of  a  party  organization.  For  instance, 
while  a  stanch  supporter  of  President  Grant's 
administration  and  on  friendly  terms  with  every 
Republican  statesman  who  agreed  with  him  upon 
the  protection  of  American  ship-building,  the 
candidates  named  in  his  own  New  York  district 
for  Congressmen  by  the  Republicans  sometimes 
did  not  meet  with  his  approval  and  he  gave  his 
influence,  almost  equivalent  to  an  election,  to 
James  Brooks,  and  afterward  to  S.  S.  Cox. 
There  were  frequent  visits  to  Washington  re- 
quired, and  he  was  never  weary  of  explaining  to 
legislators  and  others  his  analysis  of  the  rela- 
tions between  American  iron  in  the  form  of  a 
ship  and  the  American  labor  which  had  devel- 
oped the  finished  commerce-carrier  from  the  raw 
materials  in  the  forests  and  the  mines.  Of  one 
great  steamer,  the  Tokio,  he  declared  :  "  All  but 
about  five  per  cent,  of  her  present  cost  price  is 
wages  paid  to  workmen." 

As  time  went  on,  the  foremost  statesmen  be- 
came willing  to  consult  with  him  and  to  obtain 
his  fresh  and  quaintly  expressed  ideas.  On  one 
occasion,  when  the  subject  of  American  com- 
merce and  the  ocean-carrying  trade,  as  related 
to  American  ships  and  the  admission  of  foreign- 
built  hulls  to  our  coastwise  trade,  was  before 
Congress,  a  leading  statesman  asked  him  for  a 
written  digest  of  repeated  conversations.  It  was 
the  purpose  of  Mr.  Roach  to  prepare  a  pamphlet 


92  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

and  print  it  in  response  to  the  request.  He 
called  in  the  assistance  of  a  literary  friend,  him- 
self an  enthusiast  and  frequent  co-worker  in  the 
same  field,  and  during  several  evenings  they 
toiled  at  the  task  of  expression  and  condensation. 
The  completed  manuscript  was  sent  to  Wash- 
ington for  criticism  and  for  any  required  use 
also,  but  it  arrived  at  a  peculiar  crisis.  The  sub- 
ject was  up  in  the  Senate  and  the  Senator  was 
otherwise  unprepared  to  meet  it.  He  arose  in  his 
place  and  delivered  a  speech  so  full  of  knowl- 
edge, suggestions,  mastery  of  the  entire  matter, 
that  it  was  printed  in  full  in  the  New  York 
dailies  as  one  of  the  "  great  efforts  "  of  his  life. 
So  it  was.  The  thoughts,  arguments,  views 
were  all  his  own,  and  he  was  entitled  to  the  hon- 
or of  them,  but  there  had  been  hardly  any  ver- 
bal changes,  and  the  oration  was  after  all  no- 
thing but  the  great  speech  of  John  Roach  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

The  personal  attachments  and  family  ties  of 
Mr.  Roach  were  very  strong.  He  continually 
assisted  other  men,  and  his  numerous  corps  of 
assistants  regarded  him  as  a  friend  as  well  as 
employer.  As  wealth  accumulated,  he  con- 
sented to  live  in  very  good  style,  but  could  never 
be  comfortable  if  surrounded  by  anything  like 
display.  His  business  office  in  New  York  was 
a  dingy,  work-a-day  place  to  the  last,  and  his 
habitual  dress  was  suited  to  a  man  who  belonged 
there.  His  manner,  however,  although  not 
brusque,  was  that  of  a  man  accustomed  to  make 
prompt  decisions  and  to  be  obeyed  implicitly, 


JOHN  ROACH  93 

with  the   added   idea   that   his   mind  was  very 
much  occupied  and  that  his  time  was  valuable. 

The  vast  business  went  on,  year  after  year, 
until  it  struck  upon  the  very  rock  which  had 
been  so  often  avoided  by  skilful  steering.  The 
despatch-boat  Dolphin  was  rejected  and 
thrown  back  upon  his  hands  by  government 
examiners  at  a  bad  stage  of  the  general  money 
market.  That  the  decision  was  not  justified  was 
at  a  later  day  proved  by  the  final  acceptance  of 
the  vessel.  The  utterly  unexpected  blow,  how- 
ever, was  disastrous  in  its  first  effects.  The 
timid  money  market  closed  its  hand,  credits 
ceased,  and  the  house  of  John  Roach  &  Son 
was  forced  to  suspend.  Yards  and  shops  ceased 
their  operations.  So  did  distant  iron  mills  and 
forges  that  supplied  materials.  The  workmen 
went  home  and  so  did  John  Roach.  Not  but 
what  he  made  a  brave,  persistent,  and  partly 
successful  struggle  to  regain  his  feet,  but  he  was 
getting  old  and  he  was  tired.  Not  many  months 
later,  January  10,  1887,  he  closed  his  career,  leav- 
ing behind  him,  in  the  minds  of  all  who  knew  him, 
an  exceedingly  kindly  and  respectful  memory  of 
one  of  the  best  and  most  patriotic  of  American 
business  men — a  man  whose  splendid  faculties  had 
been  forced  to  work  altogether  through  the  hands 
of  other  men.  Genius  of  any  kind,  especially  busi- 
ness genius,  seeking  to  understand  and  use  its 
own  powers,  fettered  or  walled  in  by  circum- 
stances, may  take  invaluable  courage  and  instruc- 
tion from  the  record  of  the  Irish  immigrant  boy 
who  overcame  so  much  and  who  builded  so  well. 


V. 

LEVI   PARSONS   MORTON. 

IF  a  man  should  be  seen  presiding,  with  fault- 
less dignity  and  perfectly  equipped  ability,  over 
the  varied  deliberations  of  a  legislative  body 
second  in  importance  to  no  other  upon  earth  ; 

If  he  should  again  be  observed,  in  the  most 
critical  and  exacting  of  European  capitals,  serv- 
ing as  the  chosen  ambassador  of  one  of  the 
world's  two  great  republics  to  the  other,  and 
should  be  found  provided  with  all  the  social 
knowledges  and  all  the  diplomatic  training  re- 
quired to  mingle  there  with  courtly  statesmen, 
brilliant  women,  and  others  of  every  kind  ; 

If  he  should  again  be  seen  in  a  congress  of 
scientific  men,  exchanging  thoughts  Avith  other 
thinkers,  as  a  man  acquainted  with  their  work 
and  their  attainments  ; 

If  he  should  pass  through  all  the  trying  or- 
deals so  indicated  with  the  strongly  expressed 
approval  of  friends  and  adversaries  alike,  it 
might  well  be  deemed  worth  while  to  investigate 
his  career  and  to  ascertain  in  what  schools  his 
manifestly  unusual  original  capacities  were  de- 
veloped and  prepared  for  such  eminent  uses. 

It  has  been  declared  by  many  that  only  in 
sombre  universities,  only  in  the  courts  of  kings, 


Levi    Parsons   Morton. 


LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON  95 

only  under  the  tuition  of  men  themselves  not- 
able for  learning  and  for  wisdom  can  such  at- 
tainments be  accomplished.  Something  of  truth 
is  hidden  in  this  declaration,  no  doubt.  The 
diamond  must  be  polished  by  the  diamond,  but 
the  inquiry  remains  as  to  where  shall  be  found 
the  best  lapidaries  of  intrinsic  worth,  to  cut 
rough  gems  and  bring  out  to  view  the  best  and 
highest  qualities  of  any  given  human  character. 

There  is  an  answer,  supplied  by  multiplied  ex- 
amples, but  not  yet  fully  accepted.  Still,  it  is 
better  understood  and  admitted  now  than  in 
former  days,  that  the  ordinary  business  of  this 
world,  transacted  upon  right  principles  and  for 
its  own  sake,  as  an  art  to  be  loved  and  a  science 
to  be  honored,  is  the  true  and  the  best  finishing 
school  of  men,  whatever  they  may  have  known 
as  their  primary  or  their  grammar  school. 

Levi  Parsons  Morton  was  born  at  Shoreham, 
Vt.,  May  1 6,  1824.  On  his  father's  side  he  was 
descended  from  George  Morton,  who  came 
over  from  England  and  settled  at  Middleboro, 
Plymouth  County,  Mass.,  in  1623,  after  having 
served  as  the  financial  agent  in  London  of  the 
Puritan  colonists  who  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  the 
Mayflower.  On  his  mother's  side  he  was  de- 
scended from  the  Parsons  family,  equally  early 
Puritan  colonists,  through  Joseph  Parsons,  who 
held  the  rank  of  cornet,  or  at  our  modern  rating, 
second  lieutenant,  in  a  troop  of  colonial  cavalry. 
The  cornet  was  also  distinguished  as  the  father 
of  the  first  child  born  at  Northampton,  Mass. 

Every  part  of  our  country  bears  witness  to  the 


96 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


peculiarly  valuable  mental  and  bodily  inheri- 
tance transmitted  from  generation  to  generation 
by  that  primitive  stock  of  men  and  women  who 
dared  and  endured  all  things  for  conscience's 
sake. 

Levi's  earlier  days  were  those  of  a  hardy,  dar- 
ing, intelligent  country  boy.     He  was  trained  in 


The  Old  Morton  Home  at  Middleboro,  Mass. 

the  needful  industries,  the  rigid  morality,  the 
religious  reverence,  and  the  patriotic  traditions 
of  a  New  England  farm  and  village  home. 

In  the  latter  and  its  surroundings  there  was 
plainness  without  poverty.  In  the  social  posi- 
tion of  the  family,  however,  it  is  pretty  well  un- 
derstood that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  the 
intense  but  very  rational  self-respect  which  re- 
fuses to  admit  the  existence  of  any  higher  rank 
on  earth  than  that  of  the  right  kind  of  American 


LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON  97 

citizenship.  This  is  a  feature  of  well-developed 
republican  character  which  is  not  always  easily 
understood  by  many  whose  best  claims  to  emi- 
nence must  be  hunted  for  among  the  records  of 
a  herald's  office. 

There  were  fairly  good  public  schools  at 
Shoreham,  with  a  somewhat  uncertain  proces- 
sion of  successive  teachers.  Instruction  of  a 
higher  grade  was  next  obtained  in  the  village 
academy  and  in  that  at  Springfield,  Vt. 

From  each  in  turn  young  Morton  obtained 
quite  as  much  as  could  have  been  expected,  but 
he  certainly  did  no  more.  There  were  books  to 
be  had,  and  he  read  many ;  but  his  tastes  were 
not  those  of  a  student  of  books.  There  was  in 
him  an  overpowering  element  of  dash,  vigor, 
and  enterprise  which  was  at  war  with  scholarly 
ways.  In  close  alliance  with  this  was  another 
strong  characteristic  which  quickly  showed  it- 
self in  his  keen  perception  concerning  any  mat- 
ter connected  with  trade  or  traffic.  It  was  not 
the  mere  sharp-bargain  instinct,  which  may  be 
presented  most  obviously  by  a  pedler  or  a  jack- 
knife  swapper.  It  was  the  disposition  to  study 
and  the  power  to  rapidly  master  the  primary 
laws  which  govern  commerce. 

There  was  less  of  disappointment,  therefore, 
when,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  was  informed  that 
a  college  education  could  not  be  given  him.  His 
father,  a  liberal  and  intelligent  man,  was  bring- 
ing up  a  family  of  six  children  on  a  salary,  at 
that  time,  of  only  six  hundred  dollars.  He  had 
already,  by  rigid  economy  and  straining  his 


98  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

slender  resources,  provided  Levi's  elder  brother 
with  a  college  course  at  Middlebury,  and  he 
could  do  no  more. 

Levi  did  not  ask  for  anything  more,  but  was 
quite  ready  to  begin  taking  care  of  himself. 
Employment  was  obtained  for  him  in  a  country 
store  at  Enfield,  Mass.  It  was  a  small  place  and 
the  store  itself  was  small,  but  the  world  was 
pretty  well  represented  in  it.  Small  samples 
of  almost  everything  could  be  found  upon  the 
shelves,  or  were  stored  away  among  the  bags 
and  boxes.  It  was  somewhat  like  the  index  of  a 
book,  for  each  article  of  merchandise  had  its  own 
peculiar  line  of  associations.  Moreover,  all  kinds 
of  people  came  to  trade,  and  all  were  so  many 
human  object-lessons  to  young  Morton.  While, 
for  instance,  he  learned  much  concerning  tea 
and  coffee,  about  manufactured  fabrics,  about 
all  manner  of  country  produce  and  its  handling, 
he  also  learned  how  to  deal  with  men  and 
women.  While  doing  so,  and  in  spite  of  his  ex- 
treme youth,  the  strongest  point  of  his  charac- 
ter began  to  manifest  itself.  This  was  his  mar- 
vellous capacity  for  winning  the  confidence  of 
all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  His  way 
of  meeting  people  had  no  repellent  feature. 

If  this  first  service  behind  the  counter  was  to 
be  regarded  as  a  school,  a  fairly  full  course  was 
taken ;  but  it  was  left  behind  when,  in  the  winter 
of  1841-42,  the  young  clerk  rose  to  the  rank  of  a 
common-school  teacher  at  Boscawen,  Vt.  This 
was  but  an  episode  or  a  makeshift  while  prepar- 
ing for  his  next  venture.  He  was  not  yet  of  age 


LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON  99 

in  1843,  and  was  somewhat  embarrassed  by  that 
consideration,  but,  in  association  with  others,  he 
managed  to  go  into  business  for  himself  at  Han- 
over, N.  H.  It  was  a  small  enough  beginning, 
and  the  field  before  him  seemed  narrow,  but  he 
widened  it  as  time  went  on.  Even  here  he  was  able 
to  discover  channels  for  small  business  enterprises 
which  had  not  appeared  to  the  eyes  of  others.  At 
the  same  time  he  took  an  active  part  in  all  local 
interests  of  a  public  nature  and  kept  himself  well 
informed  concerning  all  manner  of  affairs  at  home 
and  abroad.  Books  were  a  matter  of  course,  to 
some  extent,  but  one  kind  of  student  can  read 
more  in  a  morning  newspaper  than  another  can 
in  a  solid  volume,  and  there  are  mental  processes 
for  acquiring  information  which  strongly  resem- 
ble absorption  from  the  atmosphere. 

It  is  not  recorded  that,  during  this  part  of  his 
career,  Mr.  Morton  swerved  for  a  moment  from 
his  chosen  pursuit.  Whatever  duties  of  a  citizen 
he  might  attend  to,  he  had  determined  to  per- 
fect himself  as  a  man  of  business,  and  his  am- 
bition grew  as  he  was  compelled  to  measure 
himself  with  other  men. 

Prosperity  came  with  reasonable  steadiness,  al- 
though there  were  also  such  checks  as  were  in- 
evitable during  a  period  in  which  the  country 
was  again  and  again  swept  by  financial  storms. 
Losses  which  operate  as  disasters  to  some  men 
seem  almost  to  have  an  opposite  effect  upon  oth- 
ers. At  all  events  Mr.  Morton  continually  kept 
a  firm  grasp  upon  his  business  until  a  time  came 
when  he  was  ready  to  turn  it  over  to  others. 


100  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

From  the  position  of  a  prosperous  country  mer- 
chant it  was  easy  to  study  and  investigate  wider 
fields,  and  the  nearest,  best  known  of  these  was 
that  of  Boston.  There  was  no  haste  to  make  a 
new  venture,  but  in  1850  Mr.  Morton  became  a 
member  of  the  house  of  Beebe,  Morgan  &  Co.,  of 
Boston.  It  was  a  long  step,  but  it  was  only  a 
step,  for  he  had  already  grown  beyond  the  stat- 
ure at  which  he  was  willing  to  hold  a  subordi- 
nate position,  such  as  must  be  that  of  a  junior 
partner  in  a  strong  concern. 

Moreover,  with  the  mind  of  a  genuine  mer- 
chant, he  was  attaining  a  better  grasp  and  under- 
standing of  those  business  relations  between  the 
Old  World  and  the  New  which  were  to  become  his 
specialty.  He  perceived  that  whatever  might  be 
the  relations  of  the  great  New  England  port  to 
the  commerce  of  other  nations,  it  was  not  and 
could  not  expect  to  be  the  centre  of  operations 
for  the  business  of  the  republic.  Perhaps  it 
could  also  be  discerned,  almost  unpleasantly,  that 
Boston  business  was  already  firmly  held  by  hands 
from  which  no  great  share  of  it  was  likely  to  be 
wrested,  while  the  vast  increase  was  drifting 
elsewhere.  After  four  years  of  success,  there- 
fore, that  was  noteworthy,  to  say  the  least,  Mr. 
Morton  transferred  the  basis  of  his  operations  to 
New  York.  Here,  in  1854,  he  organized  the  house 
of  Morton  &  Grinnell,  having  already  established 
important  connections  and  practically  assured 
success  in  advance.  The  best  part  of  this  assur- 
ance was  speedily  found  to  be  his  thorough  mas- 
tery of  the  difficult  problems  presented,  almost 


LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON  101 

hourly,  by  the  swiftly  changing  tides  and  cur- 
rents of  the  city  of  exchanges.  The  trained  ca- 
pacity for  reading  and  for  dealing  with  these 
changes,  as  they  come,  is  a  very  good  substitute 
for  what  is  called  foresight. 

The  higher  planes  of  cultivated  society,  in 
America  as  in  Europe,  are  also,  inevitably,  al- 
most coextensive  with  the  higher  planes  of  finan- 
cial and  commercial  diplomacy.  An  ornamental 
element  of  our  social  activity  is  more  or  less  igno- 
rant of  the  use  made  of  it,  but  more  and  more  do 
the  real  social  forces  prove  their  vitality.  The 
eminently  social  side  of  educated  business  life 
continually  brings  together  the  elements  of  busi- 
ness undertaking.  Men  meet,  talk,  agree,  and 
thenceforth  pull  together. 

The  merchants  of  New  York,  from  the  earliest 
days  of  colonial  history,  have  been  distinguished 
for  social  qualities,  and  Mr.  Morton's  ready  wel- 
come among  them  was  due  in  no  small  degree  to 
his  being  an  adept  in  the  multifarious  diplomacies 
of  entertainment.  He  could  meet  men  in  the 
drawing-room  with  as  perfect  readiness  as  on  the 
exchange,  and  an  important  result  rapidly  fol- 
lowed. He  was  found  ready  to  meet  the  com- 
mercial ambassadors  of  Europe  upon  an  equal 
footing,  and  from  time  to  time  as  they  came  he 
formed  relationships  with  the  business  world  be- 
yond the  sea. 

As  the  years  went  by,  financial  crises  came ; 
convulsions  of  the  nation's  finance ;  panics  that 
were  like  hurricanes ;  business  earthquakes,  in 
which  seemingly  solid  structures  came  tumbling 


102  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

down.  With  reference  to  these,  from  all  the 
effects  of  which  no  man  could  hope  to  be  de- 
livered, it  must  be  said  that  Mr.  Morton  exhibited 
in  a  high  degree  the  prescience  which  prepares 
beforehand  for  the  evil  sure  to  come.  Owing  to 
this,  including  its  related  prudences,  his  com- 
mercial undertakings  were  never  disastrously 
broken  in  upon,  but  increased,  year  after  year, 
while  hundreds  of  houses  older  than  his  own  dis- 
appeared from  the  lists. 

A  great  merchant  is  of  necessity  more  or  less  a 
banker.  He  has  always  a  certain  control  which 
enables  him  to  do  much  of  his  banking  business 
through  his  own  rather  than  through  other 
hands.  In  a  steadily  increasing  exercise  of  this 
control,  so  fully  in  accord  with  his  own  tastes 
and  habits,  natural  or  acquired,  Mr.  Morton 
found  himself  becoming  even  more  a  banker  than 
a  merchant.  There  was,  therefore,  no  suddenness 
of  transition  when,  in  1863,  his  merchandise  ac- 
count was  parted  with  and  his  entire  attention 
turned  to  finance.  This  may  be  regarded  as  the 
culmination  of  his  business  education,  for  he  was 
at  once  understood  to  possess  a  degree  of  fitness 
not  often  acquired  by  even  capable  men  brought 
up  from  their  beginnings  in  banking-houses. 

Nothing  but  disaster  awaits  the  man  who  at- 
tempts so  difficult  a  career  without  such  fitness, 
and  Mr.  Morton  did  not  venture  until  entirely 
assured  of  his  own  qualifications.  The  date 
chosen  was  itself  an  evidence  of  courage  and  self- 
reliance,  for  the  new  firm  of  L.  P.  Morton  &  Co. 
opened  its  doors  for  business  in  1863,  in  the  midst 


LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON  103 

of  the  financial  tumults  occasioned  by  the  civil 
war. 

His  intention,  at  the  outset,  was  to  take  hold 
of  the  financial  relations,  private  and  public,  be- 
tween the  money  markets  of  the  United  States 
and  those  of  Europe. 

To  this  end,  a  London  house  was  needed,  not  a 
mere  correspondent,  but  his  own,  and  at  an  early 
day  it  was  established  under  the  firm  name  of  L.  P. 
Morton,  Burns  &  Co.  It  was  a  bold  challenge  of 
competition  with  great  houses  of  historic  fame 
and  enormous  capital,  which  at  that  time  be- 
lieved themselves  able  to  control  the  indicated 
field  of  operation.  The  new  house  stepped  in 
ambitiously,  some  said  presumptuously,  among 
the  Rothschilds  and  the  Barings,  but  it  speedily 
obtained  for  itself  a  cordial  recognition  and  an 
established  position. 

The  oldest  and  ablest  financiers  discovered 
that  its  managing  head  could  successfully  en- 
counter them  upon  their  own  ground.  Once 
more,  however,  he  evinced  his  singular  faculty 
for  obtaining  the  implicit  personal  confidence  of 
all  men.  The  higher  their  own  position  and 
capacity,  the  more  surely  he  won  their  reliance 
as  allies  or  their  respect  as  antagonists. 

The  affairs  from  time  to  time  proposed  and 
undertaken  were  such  as  might  well  arouse  the 
ambition  of  an  enthusiastic  devotee  of  business 
for  its  own  sake.  Other  men  also  took  pfride  in 
the  fact  that  it  was  done  so  well.  His  house  was 
widely  recognized  as  a  kind  of  national  triumph, 
an  American  success  in  which  his  fellow-citizens 


104  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

felt  a  patriotic  interest.  Its  failure  would  have 
been  heard  of  somewhat  as  the  news  of  a  lost 
battle. 

Six  years  of  continual  expansion,  of  business 
acquisitions  through  divers  channels,  created  a 
demand  for  new  and  larger  machinery.  In  1869, 
therefore,  there  was  a  reorganization,  with  an  in- 
crease of  capital  and  membership.  The  Ameri- 
can house  took  on  the  name  of  Morton,  Bliss  & 
Co.,  while  the  Canadian  Minister  of  Finance,  Sir 
John  Rose,  left  his  high  colonial  position  to  go 
to  London  as  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Morton, 
Rose  &  Co. 

Four  years  later  the  London  house  was  made 
the  financial  agent  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. Among  its  more  notable  transactions  in 
that  capacity  were  the  reception  of  the  Geneva 
award  of  $15,500,000,  on  account  of  the  Alabama 
claims,  and  the  subsequent  payment  of  the  Hali- 
fax award,  on  account  of  the  coast  fisheries,  of 
$5,500,000. 

The  head  of  a  house  so  trusted  and  employed 
became  an  important  unofficial  public  servant, 
and  Mr.  Morton  found  himself  in  continual  con- 
sultation with  the  business  managers  of  the  re- 
public. He  became  a  counsellor  for  the  Treasury 
and  almost  of  the  Stock  Exchange,  and  a  sort  of 
ex-officio  member  of  important  committees  of 
Congress.  It  was  as  a  complimentary  acknowl- 
edgment of  services  rendered  without  pay  that 
he  was  afterward  appointed  one  of  the  com- 
missioners who  represented  the  United  States  at 
the  Paris  Exposition.  In  that  capacity  he  earned 


LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON  105 

general  and  very  warm  approval  by  his  liberal 
and  courteous  care  of  the  perplexing  interests 
which  demanded  his  attention. 

In  addition  to  this  he  served  as  American 
commissioner-general  to  the  Paris  Electrical  Ex- 
position, and  as  representative  of  the  United 
States  at  the  Submarine  Cable  Convention. 

The  world  of  business  achievement  hardly 
seemed  to  offer  any  higher  honor  or  success. 
The  upper  level  had  been  reached  and  perma- 
nently occupied.  Nevertheless,  there  were 
great  uses  awaiting  a  man  so  thoroughly  well 
educated  for  their  performance.  Mr.  Morton 
had  been  a  steady  and  liberal  supporter  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  without  being  a  politician,  in  the 
common  acceptance  of  that  term.  He  had  given 
his  money  and  his  influence,  and  had  frequently 
been  taken  into  consultation  by  the  leaders  and 
statesmen  of  his  party.  His  advice  was  sure  to 
be  asked  in  emergencies,  and  he  had  become  one 
of  the  known  but  unadvertised  powers  of  politi- 
cal management.  He  did  not  pretend  to  be  an 
orator,  however,  and  he  had  never  held  office. 
He  had  not  expressed  any  ambition  for  political 
distinction,  but  it  was  known  that  in  his  own  Con- 
gressional district,  the  Eleventh,  of  New  York 
City,  he  had  acquired  singular  personal  popu- 
larity. It  had  been,  as  a  rule,  a  Democratic  dis- 
trict, not  a  hopeful  battle-ground  for  a  Re- 
publican nominee.  In  1878,  nevertheless,  the 
Democratic  party  placed  in  nomination  a  gentle- 
man whose  hold  upon  the  popular  confidence 
was  believed  to  be  defective,  presenting  a  reason- 


106  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

ably  good  opportunity  for  a  contest.  Mr.  Mor- 
ton was  induced  to  enter  the  canvass  as  the 
Republican  nominee,  but  the  result  was  much 
more  striking  than  anybody  had  anticipated,  for 
his  vote  more  than  doubled  that  given  to  his 
opponent.  A  very  similar  declaration  of  the 
public  will  followed  Mr.  Morton's  second  nom- 
ination in  1880,  but  his  Congressional  career 
was  not  to  be  very  long,  however  creditable.  In 
the  Forty-sixth  Congress  and  in  the  opening  of 
the  Forty-seventh  he  distinguished  himself  as  a 
"business  member."  His  wide  acquaintance 
with  commerce  and  finance  made  him  of  inesti- 
mable service  in  the  committee-rooms,  while  the 
care  of  bills  upon  the  floor,  after  his  work  was 
done,  was  mainly  in  other  hands.  As  was  his 
life-long  custom,  here  as  elsewhere,  he  acquired 
the  continuous  education  of  his  surroundings. 
He  made  his  own  all  the  specific  knowledges  of 
the  situation  in  which  he  found  himself.  That 
is,  as  if  he  could  not  help  it,  he  acquired  famil- 
iarity with  parliamentary  laws  and  usages ;  the 
handling  of  debates ;  the  strategies  of  legislative 
contests.  He  forced  his  way  to  the  front  as  one 
of  the  few  who  were  distinctly  known  to  all  the 
rest  among  the  mass  of  representatives.  Con- 
gress is  an  assembly  of  able  men  who  for  the 
greater  part  attain  a  kind  of  honorable  obscurity 
— at  least  during  their  first  term. 

Mr.  Morton's  most  capable  associates  in  Con- 
gress, including  such  men  as  General  Garfield, 
then  the  leader  on  the  Republican  side  of  the 
House,  perceived  that  his  best  fitness  was  not  for 


LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON  107 

the  business  of  legislation.  His  abilities  and  his 
training  were  administrative  and  also,  in  a  high 
degree,  diplomatic.  He  was  a  presiding  officer 
rather  than  a  debater,  except  as  debates  are  con- 
ducted by  men  who  speak  only  to  each  other  and 
without  reference  to  any  audience. 

Garfield  was  a  reader  of  men,  and  when,  in 
1 88 1,  he  became  President  of  the  United  States, 
he  offered  Mr.  Morton  the  choice  of  the  post 
of  Secretary  of  the  Navy  or  that  of  Minister  to 
France.  The  latter  duty  was  accepted  without 
hesitation,  and  the  Congressional  committee- 
rooms  were  exchanged  for  the  brilliant  salons  of 
Paris.  There  were  manifest  reasons  for  such  a 
choice  by  such  a  man.  The  Navy  Department 
did  not,  at  that  date/seem  to  offer  any  field  for 
the  exercise  of  special  energy.  The  time  for  its 
development  was  at  hand,  but  had  not  arrived. 
As  for  statesmanship,  in  the  position  of  council- 
lors to  the  chief  magistrate,  a  cabinet  council  pre- 
sided over  by  President  Garfield  and  directed  in 
its  policies  of  all  sorts  by  James  G.  Elaine,  was 
one  in  which  another  man  might  become  little 
felt  and  barely  visible.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
public  and  private  interests  to  be  guarded  or 
promoted  by  a  Minister  of  the  United  States  to 
France  were  mainly  commercial  or  financial  in 
their  nature,  while  the  social  side  of  the  position 
also  presented  a  strong  attraction. 

Four  years  of  arduous  services,  well  performed, 
justified  the  President's  choice.  There  were  dif- 
ficulties and  perplexities  of  many  kinds,  some  of 
which,  of  course,  grew  out  of  the  disturbed  and 


108 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


changing  nature  of  French  politics.  All  were  so 
dealt  with  that  competent  critics,  without  dis- 
tinction of  party,  united  in  declaring  Mr.  Morton 
an  exceptional  diplomatic  success. 

On  the  other  hand,  scholarly  men,  looking  on 
from  their  own  places,  recognized  the  peculiar 
culture  obtained  through,  while  required  by, 
these  successive  achievements.  In  1881  Dart- 
mouth College  gave  Mr.  Morton  the  degree  of 


Ellerslie,  Mr.  Morton's  Country  Home  at  Rhinecliff-on-Hudson,  N.  Y. 

LL.D.,  and,  as  if  in  thoughtful  approval  and 
confirmation,  Middlebury  College  did  the  same 
in  1882.  There  have  been  college  degrees 
awarded  to  distinguished  citizens,  from  time  to 
time,  to  which  the  assent  of  the  general  public 
was  given  with  a  smile,  which  meant  that  the 
honors  were  ornamental  only,  and  of  a  kind  not 
to  be  commonly  worn  by  the  recipients. 

He  returned  to  the  conduct  of  the  increasing 
business  which  poured  like  a  tide  through  the 
great  banking-house,  but  it  was  only  to  discover 


LEVI  PARSONS  MORTON  109 

that  he  had  become  something  more  than  a 
trusted  financier.  It  was  hardly  upon  this  side 
of  his  character  that  most  men  were  looking.  He 
seemed  even  to  have  escaped  the  popular  jealousy 
so  apt  to  point  its  finger  at  those  whom  it  distin- 
guishes as  "  money  kings."  He  had  not  made 
upon  the  public  mind  the  impression  of  an  exces- 
sively rich  man,  or  of  a  mere  gatherer  of  riches, 
but  as  being  altogether  and  successfully  a  "  busi- 
ness man,"  and  that  is  a  character  which  Ameri- 
cans understand  intuitively.  It  was  an  idea 
that  spread,  silently  but  continuously,  during 
four  years  following  and  it  produced  a  remark- 
able but  entirely  natural  consequence.  At  the 
Republican  National  Convention  in  1888  the  list 
of  the  party's  available  men  was  scrutinized 
with  more  than  ordinary  severity,  for  the  vote 
was  sure  to  be  close,  the  prospect  was  very 
doubtful,  and  an  error  at  the  outset  would  be  an 
invitation  to  sure  defeat.  The  candidate  for 
President,  General  Harrison,  Avas  selected  be- 
cause of  his  solid  strength  and  unassailable 
name.  When  the  next  inquiry  was  made  for 
another  candidate  as  secure  of  public  approval, 
to  be  found,  however,  on  the  Atlantic  slope,  it 
was  noteworthy  how  unerringly  the  sifting  pro- 
cess put  aside  other  names  and  settled  upon  that 
of  Mr.  Morton,  as  a  representative  business  man. 
He  received  a  more  than  two-thirds  vote  of 
the  convention.  Success  at  the  polls  followed 
and  he  became  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  It  was  a  chair  which  had 
been  occupied  by  a  long  line  of  distinguished 


110  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

men.  Each  in  succession  had  been  called  upon 
to  deal  with  a  daily  tangle  of  such  delicate  prob- 
lems, often  even  personal  in  their  nature,  as  be- 
long to  the  swift  processes  of  debate  and  legisla- 
tion. Some  had  succeeded  better  than  others, 
and  there  had  been  very  able  men  among  them 
whose  success  had  been  less  than  brilliant.  It 
was  a  severe  test  of  any  man's  capacity.  No 
doubt,  Mr.  Morton's  parliamentary  schooling  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  was  of  vast  value 
to  him  with  reference  to  what  may  be  called  the 
revised  statutes  of  Senatorial  deliberations.  More 
than  that,  however,  was  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
in  the  almost  life-long  custom  of  presiding  over 
important  affairs  and  of  courteously  adjusting 
disputed  balances  between  other  men.  He  was 
better  trained  for  the  place  than  were  some  of 
the  most  adroit  and  eloquent  parliamentary  de- 
baters on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  Of  the  man- 
ner in  which,  during  four  years,  he  met  and  filled 
the  requirements  of  his  high  and  difficult  station, 
no  other  comment  need  be  made  than  the  deci- 
sion recorded  by  the  Senate  itself.  At  the  close 
of  Mr.  Morton's  term,  every  man  of  the  eighty- 
eight  members  of  the  Senate  signed  an  invita- 
tion to  a  public  banquet  which  they  offered  him, 
in  testimonial  of  the  fact  that  neither  friend  nor 
foe  had  any  fault  to  find.  It  stands  alone,  the 
first  honor  of  its  kind  ever  awarded.  He  had 
conducted  with  perfect  success,  and  strictly  as  a 
business  man,  the  business  of  the  Senate. 


Edwin  Denison   Morgan. 


VI. 

EDWIN   DENISON   MORGAN. 

THE  history  of  other  countries,  as  well  as  our 
own,  teaches  us  that  the  qualities  of  mind  and  the 
training  obtained  by  them  in  winning  the  higher 
grades  of  success  in  business  are  available  for 
other  uses  than  those  of  commerce.  Here,  more 
than  elsewhere,  such  uses  are  sure  of  being  given 
if  at  all  sought  for.  Many  of  our  eminent  mer- 
chants have  all  the  while  worked  also  in  other 
fields.  They  have  been  inventors,  explorers, 
projectors,  builders,  or  financiers.  Others,  al- 
though not  so  large  a  number,  have  become 
eminent  as  politicians,  as  statesmen,  without  sev- 
ering their  relations  with  their  original  field  of 
work.  The  generation  of  business  men  immedi- 
ately preceding  this  present  was  fruitful  in  such 
instances,  and  among  them  were  men  who  left 
their  mark  indelibly  upon  the  history  of  their 
country. 

Edwin  Denison  Morgan  was  born  at  Washing- 
ton, Berkshire  County,  Mass.,  February  8,  1811. 
His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Eliza  Matilda 
Waterman.  The  Morgan  family  were  among 
the  earliest  settlers  of  the  township  of  Groton, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  River,  Connecticut, 
from  which  his  father  removed  to  the  new  home 


112 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


in  Massachusetts  in  1809.  Here  the  childhood 
of  Edwin  was  passed  during  a  few  years,  and 
then  his  father  again  removed  to  a  farm  in 
Windsor,  Conn.,  not  far  from  his  former  resi- 
dence. He  was  a  man  of  moderate  substance, 
but  of  high  character,  and  his  sons,  while  given 
the  hardy  training  and  in- 
dustrious habits  of  New 
England  farmer  boys,  re- 
ceived at  home  the  firm 
foundations  of  moral  and 
religious  culture  which  pre- 
pared them  for  whatever 
else  could  be  afforded. 

The  schools  were  good, 
but  as  soon  as  Edwin  was 
old  enough  to  work  the  de- 
mands of  the  farm  came 
first,  and  he  was  able  to  at- 
tend the  local  free  academy 
in  winter  only,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  term  at  the 
Bacon  Academy,  in  Col- 
chester. This,  with  such 
books  and  periodicals  as  were  to  be  had  at 
home,  or  borrowed,  made  up  the  apparent  sum 
of  his  schooling ;  but  there  were  other  lessons 
whose  influence  was  apparent  in  all  his  after 
life.  One  of  these  came  to  him  from  the  in- 
tense spirit  of  patriotism  which  was  like  the 
very  air  of  the  coast  country  of  New  England. 
The  neighborhood  in  which  his  boyhood  was 
passed  was  exceedingly  rich  in  its  treasured  le- 


Gov.  Morgan's  Mother. 
(From  an  old  miniature.) 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN  113 

gends  of  heroic  men  and  women  and  their  deeds, 
from  the  earliest  Colonial  days,  and  the  last  war 
with  England  seemed  hardly  over  when  he  was 
learning  his  first  letters.  As  he  grew  older,  yet 
another  strong  incentive  feeling  was  at  work 
among  the  boys,  not  many  of  whom  had  any 
other  prospect  than  that  of  making  their  own 
way  in  the  world.  He  had  not,  and  he  was  just 
the  boy  to  become  imbued  with  the  prevalent 
purpose  of  going  out  into  the  world  in  search  of 
something  better  than  could  be  attained  among 
the  very  restricted  opportunities  around  him. 
He  was  an  athletic  fellow,  thoroughly  healthy 
in  mind  and  body  ;  not  over  fond  of  books,  but  ex- 
ceedingly fond  of  out-of-door  exercises  and  pos- 
sessing a  singular  quickness  in  estimating  at  true 
valuation  whatever  object,  animate  or  inanimate, 
might  come  in  his  way. 

At  seventeen,  in  the  year  1828,  taller  and 
stronger  than  most  boys  of  his  age,  he  became  a 
"clerk"  in  the  wholesale  grocery  store  of  his 
uncle,  Nathan  Morgan,  at  Hartford,  Conn.  He 
was  to  learn  whatever  was  to  be  learned  there 
and  he  was  thenceforth  to  support  himself,  but 
the  manner  in  which  he  did  it,  and  much  more, 
was  an  astonishment  to  most  people,  although  it 
might  not  have  been  to  his  old  school-fellows. 

The  business  training  and  the  knowledge  at- 
taching to  it  were  to  the  last  degree  miscellaneous, 
for  the  customers,  sellers  as  well  as  buyers,  were 
as  widely  assorted  in  character  as  were  the 
goods.  It  was  a  place  in  which  to  get  acquainted 
with  men  as  well  as  with  things,  and  it  was  not 


114  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

long  before  young  Morgan  "  knew  everybody." 
He  not  only  began  to  understand  the  grocery 
business  in  all  its  branches,  but  he  began  to  un- 
derstand Hartford  itself  and  to  take  an  interest 
in  its  public  affairs.  In  both  directions  he  was 
preparing  for  the  extraordinary  future  before 
him. 

His  peculiar  genius  as  a  merchant  began  to 
exhibit  itself  quickly  and  was  intelligently  recog- 
nized by  his  uncle  Nathan,  so  that  the  boy  clerk 
was  intrusted  with  duties  beyond  his  nominal 
years,  as  having  an  oldish  head  upon  very  young 
shoulders. 

Then,  as  now,  the  city  of  New  York  was  the 
great  commercial  centre,  but  it  was  vastly  more 
distant  from  inland  places  like  Hartford.  There 
were  neither  railways,  steamboats,  nor  telegraphs. 
Postal  communication  was  slow  and  defective. 
The  great  mass  of  minor  dealers  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts were  almost  altogether  supplied  through 
intermediates,  and  the  produce  of  all  kinds  was 
collected  and  forwarded  in  a  corresponding  man- 
ner. Even  for  a  Hartford  merchant,  dealing  at 
wholesale,  an  actual  business  visit  to  the  great  sea- 
port was  a  matter  of  moment  to  be  talked  about 
and  planned  beforehand  and  to  become  almost 
family  history  afterward.  It  was  therefore  an 
excellent  illustration  of  the  good  opinion  Edwin 
had  been  winning,  when,  at  barely  twenty  years 
of  age,  in  1831,  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  con- 
siderable shipment  of  country  produce  to  be  de- 
livered in  New  York,  with  full  power  of  bargain 
and  sale. 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN 


115 


He  himself  felt  sure  that  his  uncle  had  select- 
ed the  right  supercargo.  He  had  talked  with 
scores  and  scores  of  sharp  New  Englanders 
about  the  ways  and  methods  of  the  city  dealers, 
and  he  knew  some  of  these.  Even  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  city,  the  wharves  and  the  streets  he 


The  Old   Morgan  Homestead  at  Windsor,  Conn. 

was  to  see,  were  already  familiar  to  his  mind's 
eye.  When  he  reached  his  destination,  therefore, 
he  was  not  at  all  in  the  character  of  a  green  boy 
from  the  country.  He  felt  and  acted  as  if  he  were 
at  home,  or  had  but  walked  out  of  Hartford  into 
a  larger  village,  among  men  with  whom  he  was 
reasonably  well  acquainted.  The  fact  that  he  was 
able  to  do  so  rendered  that  trip  a  sort  of  turning 
point  in  his  business  career.  He  not  only  sold 


116  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

out  to  the  best  advantage,  but,  without  waiting 
for  authority  or  advice,  which  could  not  be  had 
at  that  distance  from  home,  he  promptly  seized 
an  opportunity  offered  by  the  current  market 
prices,  bought  a  return  cargo  with  the  proceeds 
of  his  uncle's  consignment,  and  returned  with  it 
to  obtain  a  somewhat  unusual  rate  of  profit. 

Great  was  the  surprise  of  uncle  Nathan,  how- 
ever high  had  been  his  opinion  of  his  dashing, 
trading,  keen-eyed  nephew.  He  at  once  declared 
that  a  boy  who  could  handle  business  after  that 
fashion  had  manifestly  passed  his  apprenticeship. 
It  was  time  for  him  to  become  a  partner  in  the 
concern.  Morgan  had  already  become  a  leader 
among  the  young  men,  the  budding  politicians, 
of  his  own  ward.  He  had  strong  views  of  his 
own  concerning  the  management  of  municipal 
affairs,  and  he  made  himself  so  active  in  urging 
them  that  in  the  following  year,  1832,  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  City  Council  at  the  very 
election  in  which  he  cast  his  own  first  vote. 

There  were  several  visits  made  to  the  great 
city  during  the  following  four  years,  and  every 
time  the  young  country  merchant  went  there  he 
found  himself  feeling  more  and  more  at  home. 
The  country  business  prospered  in  his  hands, 
moreover,  and  his  share  of  each  year's  results 
brought  him  nearer  to  the  accomplishment  of  an 
ambition  he  was  forming.  He  was  ready  for  his 
proposed  venture  in  1836,  and  then,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five,  he  removed  to  New  York  and  went 
into  business  for  himself  as  a  grocer  on  Front 
Street.  That  year,  and  very  much  more  so  the 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN  117 

next,  marked  a  time  of  wide-spread  financial  tribu- 
lation. The  panic  of  1837  swept  into  bankruptcy 
not  a  few  of  the  old  Front  Street  houses,  and  so 
the  field  may  have  been  somewhat  cleared  for  the 
operations  of  a  vigorous  new-comer.  He  was 
hardly  that  in  some  respects,  for  he  already  had 
formed  a  large  number  of  business  acquaintances, 
upon  whom  his  almost  excessive  energy  had  made 
its  due  impression.  As  for  the  business  itself,  its 
earlier  operations  offered  very  few  features  with 
which  he  was  not  entirely  familiar.  Such  others 
as  turned  up  from  time  to  time  he  mastered  with- 
out an  effort,  for  all  their  details  came  to  him  as 
if  he  had  somewhere  read  them  in  print.  Per- 
haps he  had  no  other  characteristic  more  marked 
than  this  of  perpetual  readiness,  almost  impossible 
to  be  surprised,  and  it  had  a  foundation  in  the  iron 
firmness,  the  unwavering  business  courage,  with 
which  he  was  prepared  to  grapple  and  overcome 
the  constantly  occurring  perils  and  emergencies 
of  a  stormy  career.  Strength  and  courage  seemed 
to  develop  and  increase  from  year  to  year,  and 
a  steadily  widening  circle  of  acquaintances  cor- 
dially recognized  qualities  so  rare  and  so  valu- 
able. With  all  his  push  and  force,  moreover,  he 
was  accustomed  to  meet  other  men  with  a  hearty, 
kindly  cheerfulness,  which  had  in  it  something 
winning,  coming  from  so  robust  and  uncompro- 
mising a  man.  If  he  was  not  exactly  what  is  called 
popular,  he  was  exceedingly  well  liked,  which  is 
much  better. 

Business  grew  and  multiplied,  and  the  young 
merchant  himself  grew  with  it.     It  was  a  period- 


118  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

of  great  commercial  activity,  during  which  the 
United  States  pushed  forward  almost  abreast  of 
England  in  the  ocean-carrying  trade,  while  our 
coastwise  commerce  grew  apace,  and  that  of  the 
interior  began  to  give  promise  of  its  present  pro- 
portions. The  stately  ships  at  the  wharves  or  at 
anchor  in  the  stream,  as  the  Front  Street  grocer 
came  and  went,  were  as  if  they  beckoned  to  him. 
They  were  his  servants,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  the  keels  that  he  owned  or  chartered  were 
ploughing  the  most  distant  seas,  carrying  to 
other  lands  the  produce  of  America,  or  bringing 
back  purchases  or  consignments  from  all  the 
corners  of  the  earth.  As  for  the  business  con- 
cern which  he  was  so  rapidly  building,  if  it  were 
to  be  considered  as  a  ship,  he  was  always  and 
unquestionably  its  captain  and  somewhat  intoler- 
ant of  any  possible  variation  from  his  orders 
given  or  from  the  established  regulations  of  his 
counting-room.  This  regard  for  discipline  and 
system  was  what  slack-handed  people,  inefficient 
employees,  and  a  wide  range  of  uncertain  char- 
acters were  in  the  habit  of  calling  his  severity 
or  his  tyranny.  It  was  a  steady-handed  common 
sense,  without  which  no  business  of  any  kind  can 
successfully  be  carried  on. 

The  general  details  of  a  merchant's  career — 
voyages,  cargoes,  purchases  and  sales  at  home 
and  abroad,  with  their  ever  fresh  excitements- 
are  intensely  interesting  to  those  who  are  en- 
gaged in  them.  Even  their  narration  is  often 
picturesquely  useful  and  full  of  illustrations  of 
men  and  times,  but  the  striking^  incidents  of  Mr. 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN  119 

Morgan's  commercial  transactions  are  almost  too 
numerous  for  easy  selection.  As  time  went  on, 
he  necessarily  took  up  the  banking  department 
which,  in  one  form  or  another,  is  almost  insepa- 
rable from  a  large  mercantile  business.  He  did 
not,  however,  for  a  long  time,  at  least,  become 
more  a  banker  and  less  a  merchant.  As  a  prac- 
tical financier,  in  any  relation  whatever,  but  al- 
ways outside  of  speculative  finance,  his  sound- 
ness in  fixed  principles  and  his  prophetic  judg- 
ment of  the  probable  course  of  events,  came  to 
be  relied  upon  almost  implicitly  by  his  business 
associates.  Not  that  losses  did  not  come,  and 
sometimes  heavily,  for  he  was  called  upon  to  pilot 
his  affairs  through  more  than  one  season  of  storms 
when  there  were  shipwrecks  all  around  him. 

An  invaluable  element  of  his  business  strength 
was  his  capacity  for  reading  other  men  and  so  of 
choosing  wisely  his  partners  and  subordinates* 
temporary  or  permanent.  He  and  his  house  took 
rank  as  belonging  to  the  solid  things  "  on  'Change  " 
which  the  public  expected  would  remain. 

While  altogether  a  business  man,  Mr.  Morgan 
was  not  the  less  on  that  account  a  very  active 
and  public -spirited  citizen.  The  tendencies 
which  made  him  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Com- 
mon Council  at  twenty-one  came  with  him  to 
New  York.  Even  while  managing  a  moderate 
business  on  Front  Street  he  began  to  be  known 
in  the  political  gatherings  of  the  day  as  a  man 
of  decided  opinions,  which  he  was  ready  to  ex- 
press at  any  time. 

These    were    not   always   the  opinions  of  the 


120  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

majority,  by  any  means,  but  his  courage  and 
ability  in  defending  them  forced  him  after  a 
while  into  the  position  of  a  local  leader.  During 
a  number  of  years  he  restricted  his  political 
services  to  liberal  contributions  of  counsel,  cash, 
and  influence,  but  the  swelling  tide  of  exciting 
questions,  municipal  and  national,  was  drawing 
him  in.  The  year  1849  found  him  an  Alderman 
of  the  city,  and  before  its  close  he  had  been 
elected  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  for  a  two 
years'  term.  In  both  places  his  political  influence 
grew  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  At  the  end 
of  his  term  in  the  Senate  he  was  re-elected.  He 
was  not  an  orator,  unless  it  may  be  considered 
good  oratory  to  present  clearly  formed  views 
boldly  and  convincingly,  without  a  sign  of  at- 
tempting what  is  described  as  eloquence.  His 
acknowledged  power  in  the  Senate  was  close- 
ly allied  to  that  which  he  evinced  in  his  own 
counting-room,  and  his  "  office  desk  "  upon  the 
floor  was  a  very  unique  centre  of  perceived 
political  power,  the  power  of  strong  common 
sense  and  an  unwavering  will. 

At  the  end  of  his  second  term,  in  1853,  he  had 
a  nominal  vacation  from  politics,  holding  no 
office,  but  busily  advising  in  party  affairs.  In 
1855  he  accepted  the  position  of  Commissioner 
of  Emigration,  mainly  because  the  management 
of  the  important  interests  involved  was  sadly  in 
need  of  reformation.  This  duty  he  attended  to 
during  three  years  which  followed,  although 
others  of  an  even  more  pressing  nature  were 
meantime  forced  upon  him. 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN  121 

The  political  world  began  to  show  threatening 
signs  of  great  changes,  if  not  of  convulsions.  It 
was  the  day  of  anti-slavery  agitation,  and  there 
were  extremists  upon  both  sides  of  that  question 
who  were  greatly  in  need  of  the  restraining  hands 
of  moderate  men.  The  old  parties,  Whig  and 
Democratic,  were  manifestly  breaking  up.  They 
were  as  "old  wine-skin"  bottles,  badly  decayed, 
not  strong  enough  to  bear  the  fierce  fermentations 
aroused  by  the  discussions  of  the  right  of  State 
secession  and  the  future  of  the  Territories.  Mr. 
Morgan  was  distinctly  an  anti-slavery  man,  but 
not  what  was  in  that  day  termed  an  "  abolition- 
ist," for  his  steady  conservatism  was  opposed  to 
feverish  utterances  or  violent  measures.  His 
very  conservatism,  however,  compelled  him  to 
see  and  to  say  that  the  welfare  of  the  nation  re- 
quired the  creation  of  a  new  and  strong  politi- 
cal party  as  a  power  competent  to  govern  the 
country  in  the  interests  of  freedom,  while  pre- 
venting anarchy  and  protecting  the  Union.  To 
see  and  declare  such  a  necessity  was  also,  for  a 
man  of  his  character,  to  take  up  energetically 
the  business  of  supplying  it,  and  the  materials  at 
hand  were  abundant,  if  rightly  administered. 

There  was  a  period  of  very  sharp  and  exciting 
preliminary  agitation,  in  every  stage  of  which 
he  made  himself  felt,  so  that  he  became  generally 
regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  spirits,  if  not  the 
foremost  figure,  in  the  movement  in  the  State  of 
New  York.  His  industry  at  this  date  was  phe- 
nomenal, for  he  was  compelled  to  superintend  the 
vast  affairs  of  his  commercial  house  while  in  al- 


122  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

most  ceaseless  consultation  with  the  founders  of 
the  new  political  organization  East  and  West. 

When  it  was  decided  to  hold  a  somewhat  in- 
formal "  national  convention,"  that  met  at  Pitts- 
burg  in  February,  1856,  he  attended  as  a  delegate 
from  New  York.  In  his  opinion  the  time  was 
not  yet  ripe  for  definite  action,  nor  was  the  body 
itself  properly  representative.  It  had  been 
gathered  too  hastily  and  had  no  hold  upon  the 
popular  mind.  It  was  therefore  adjourned,  after 
providing  for  a  more  systematic,  business-like  as- 
sembly to  follow.  This  second  convention  was 
held  at  Philadelphia,  June  17,  1856,  and  con- 
sisted largely  of  the  men  who  had  been  present 
at  the  first.  The  impression  there  made  upon 
them  by  Mr.  Morgan  was  at  once  manifested  in 
the  hearty  acclamation  with  which  they  chose 
him  chairman  of  the  convention.  He  was  dis- 
covered to  be  an  admirable  selection  as  the  pre- 
siding officer  of  such  a  body,  which  contained,  at 
first,  as  many  doubtful  or  timid  men  as  it  did  of 
those  who  were  rashly  over-zealous.  The  pro- 
ceedings greatly  profited  by  the  peculiar  power 
exerted  by  the  chairman,  but  it  was  remarkable 
that  this  fact  was  so  clearly  discovered  by  all  the 
members  of  the  convention. 

John  C.  Fremont  was  nominated  for  President 
and  William  L.  Dayton  for  Vice-President ;  a 
platform  of  principles  was  adopted  ;  the  new 
party  was  called  into  existence,  but  its  first  name 
was  "  The  People's  Party,"  that  of  Republican 
attaching,  by  common  consent,  not  long  after- 
ward. 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN  123 

Before  the  convention  adjourned  it  selected 
a  national  committee  to  take  entire  charge  of 
the  affairs  of  the  new  organization,  and  at  the 
head  of  this,  as  chairman,  it  placed  Mr.  Morgan, 
with  responsibilities  which  few  men  would  have 
been  fitted  for.  It  was  a  position  which  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  during  eight  years  that  followed. 
At  the  end  of  that  time  he  exchanged  it  for  the 
chairmanship  of  the  "  Union  Congressional  Com- 
mittee," which  he  retained,  in  like  manner,  year 
after  year. 

The  "  Fremont  campaign  "  was  one  in  which 
the  only  success  to  be  reasonably  hoped  for  was 
in  State  and  municipal  elections  and  in  the  gath- 
ering and  welding  into  unity  of  the  varied  hete- 
rogeneous elements  of  which  the  new  political 
body  was  to  be  composed.  To  this  work  Mr. 
Morgan  gave  himself  with  all  energy  and  with 
considerable  expense,  and  he  proved  that  the 
construction  of  the  framework  of  a  party  and 
its  rapid  extension  over  a  vast  area  are  alto- 
gether like  other  business  undertakings.  He 
did  not  at  first  permit  himself  to  be  named  as  a 
candidate  for  office,  but  he  exercised  much  in- 
fluence over  a  large  number  of  the  nominations 
made,  especially  in  New  York.  Here,  too,  his 
judgment  of  men  came  into  play,  and  a  long  list 
of  young  men  who  were  afterward  prominent 
in  political  affairs  owed  their  first  recognition, 
their  summons  to  important  activities,  to  the 
quick  perception  and  vehement  urging  of  Edwin 
D.  Morgan.  General  Fremont  was  not  elected, 
but  he  carried  more  States  (eleven)  and  more 


124  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

votes  in  the  electoral  college  (one  hundred  and 
fourteen)  than  any  but  the  most  sanguine  had 
expected.  The  new  party  also  obtained  control 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  perhaps 
the  best  result  accomplished,  with  reference  to 
the  future,  was  the  admirably  efficient  condition 
attained  by  the  brand-new  machinery  of  the 
party  organization. 

The  next  State  election  in  New  York  was  in 
1858,  and  Mr.  Morgan  was  elected  Governor  for 
a  two  years'  term.  His  position  had  now  be- 
come indeed  important,  as  manager  of  the  par- 
ty and  as  Executive  of  the  Empire  State.  It 
was  a  time  which  called  for  strong  men.  There 
were  two  years  more  of  increasingly  hot  and 
perilous  agitation,  during  which  the  most  ur- 
gent private  interest  might  well  be  laid  aside 
that  every  energy  might  be  given  to  the  State 
and  the  nation.  In  the  Lincoln  campaign  of 
1860  Mr.  Morgan's  efficiency  was  warmly  ac- 
knowledged, and  he  was  again  chosen  Governor 
of  New  York,  that  he  might  be  in  a  position  to 
give  all  the  strength  of  the  State  to  the  support 
of  the  national  government  and  the  preservation 
of  the  Union.  Bitter  as  had  been  the  political 
contest,  and  loud  as  were  the  threatenings  of 
the  advocates  of  "  secession,"  many  able  men  re- 
fused to  believe  that  war  was  coming,  but  Mr. 
Morgan  was  not  one  of  them.  He  began  at  once 
to  prepare  for  the  trying  responsibilities  of  a 
"  war  Governor  "  of  the  State  which  must  neces- 
sarily furnish  more  men  and  more  money  than 
any  other,  and  whose  attitude  and  action  would 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN  125 

surely  give  the  tone  or  set  the  example  to  be 
followed  by  lesser  commonwealths.  The  State 
of  South  Carolina  seceded  ten  days  before  Mr. 
Morgan  took  the  oath  of  office  for  his  second 
term,  but  he  was  already  preparing  to  respond 
to  the  counter-proclamation  which  he  knew  must 
shortly  come.  The  militia  system  of  New  York, 
outside  of  a  few  city  regiments,  was  decidedly 
upon  a  peace  basis.  Not  one  of  those  regiments, 
even,  could  be  maintained  in  the  field,  for  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  a  quartermaster's  or  com- 
missary's department,  except  on  paper  in  the 
pigeon-holes  of  a  dusty  office-room  of  the  capitol 
at  Albany.  Mr.  Morgan  looked  around  among 
his  capable  young  men  and  asked  one  of  them, 
named  Chester  A.  Arthur,  to  go  with  him,  as  a 
member  of  his  military  staff,  to  put  the  State  on 
a  war  footing  as  rapidly  as  might  be,  and  to  be 
ready  to  respond  to  any  call  for  troops.  It  was 
an  admirable  selection,  for  General  Arthur  be- 
came the  very  life  and  soul  of  the  rapidly  de- 
vised methods  for  hurrying  to  the  front  all 
troops  whatsoever  that  passed  through  the  cen- 
tral military  depots  of  the  city  of  New  York.  It 
was  partly  with  reference  to  volunteers  from 
other  States,  over  whom,  as  Governor  of  New 
York,  Mr.  Morgan  had  no  legal  authority,  that 
President  Lincoln  shortly  appointed  him  a  major- 
general  of  volunteers,  and  made  the  State  a 
military  department  under  his  command.  Vol- 
unteer officers  could,  therefore,  report  to  him, 
and  any  within  his  district  were  under  his  direc- 
tion, if  the  needs  of  the  service  required  it.  The 


126  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

New  York  militia  also  became  the  Army  of 
the  Northern  Frontier.  He  accepted  the  com- 
mission for  the  sake  of  the  uses  involved,  but  he 
refused  to  draw  pay  or  rations,  or  even  for  the 
reimbursement  of  many  actual  outlays.  These, 
indeed,  in  all  directions,  had  been  largely  in  ex- 
cess of  any  appropriations  placed  at  his  disposal 
by  the  State.  The  movement  of  the  militia  of 
New  York  was  at  no  time  hindered  by  the  lack 
of  funds.  Only  at  the  outset  the  Governor  and 
his  capable  aid  were  compelled  to  be  cautious, 
even  in  spending-  their  own  funds  for  war  prep- 
arations, lest  they  should  arouse  critical  jeal- 
ousies both  at  the  North  and  at  the  South. 

The  Sumter  gun  sounded,  and  the  President's 
proclamation  calling  for  troops  was  issued  on  the 
1 5th  of  April,  1861,  and  at  once  the  quota  of  New 
York  militia  began  to  go  forward,  while  all  over 
the  State  regiments  began  to  form  for  the  volun- 
teer service.  What  this  might  be  was  as  yet  not 
even  outlined,  but  the  Governor  went  on  with  its 
first  stages  of  preparation,  very  much  as  if  he 
already  knew  what  the  next  demand  would  be. 
A  number  of  hastily  formed  but  pretty  well 
equipped  regiments  were  sent  to  the  front  before 
any  act  of  Congress  provided  for  their  recep- 
tion. They  were  on  the  ground  and  others  were 
ready  to  go  forward,  when  the  Bull  Run  defeat 
was  so  swiftly  followed  by  Congressional  legisla- 
tion placing  half  a  million  of  men  at  the  sum- 
mons of  President  Lincoln.  The  rusty,  defective 
military  machinery  of  the  State,  in  time  of  peace, 
was  replaced  by  bureaus  of  organization,  equip- 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN  127 

ment,  transportation,  and  maintenance,  whose  effi- 
ciency rivalled  that  of  a  first-class  business  estab- 
lishment. The  position  assumed  by  the  Empire 
State  was  of  inestimable  value  to  the  national 
cause  all  over  the  land,  and  the  warm  personal 
friendship  of  the  President  was  one  of  the  honors 
won  by  the  stalwart  patriotism  and  striking 
ability  displayed  by  its  Governor. 

Two  years  that  were  very  long  to  live  and 
very  short  to  look  back  upon,  brought  Mr.  Mor- 
gan's official  term  to  a  close.  Disasters  in  the  field 
had  been  counted  twice  by  the  war-wearied  people 
and  advantages  won  had  certainly  been  much 
underestimated.  A  very  large  part  of  the  Re- 
publican vote  was  in  the  army,  and  so  the  party 
was  defeated  at  the  polls.  There  was  to  be  an 
opposition  Governor  of  New  York,  although  one 
by  no  means  lacking  in  patriotism,  but  the  public 
services  of  Mr.  Morgan  continued,  for  he  was 
transferred  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  for  a  six  years'  term. 

It  was  a  time  when  thoroughly  trained  busi- 
ness men  were  sorely  needed  in  that  body,  for 
the  questions  of  the  day  were  financial  much 
more  than  otherwise  political.  Congress  had 
indeed  a  large  burden  of  general  legislation  upon 
its  hands,  and  it  rightly  considered  itself  the  co- 
ordinate of  the  Executive  in  scrutinizing  every 
feature  of  the  conduct  of  the  war.  Still,  it  was 
practically  resolved  into  a  Committee  of  the 
Whole  on  Ways  and  Means,  and  there  were 
those  among  its  membership  whose  previous 
experience  had  brought  them  only  crude  per- 


128  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

ceptions  relating  to  the  taxable  resources  of  the 
country  and  the  science  of  turning  available  cred- 
its into  debt-paying  paper.  The  just  weight  due 
the  counsels  of  the  New  York  merchant-states- 
man was  accorded  him  at  once.  He  was  placed 
upon  the  Committees  of  Finance,  Commerce,  Pa- 
cific Railroad,  and  the  Library.  It  is  recorded 
that  during  his  entire  term  he  did  not  miss  a 
single  session  of  the  Senate,  but  was  always  in  his 
place  ready  for  business.  His  work  in  the  several 
committee-rooms  was  of  the  most  valuable  char- 
acter and  its  performance  was  tireless.  He  was 
in  the  full  vigor  of  a  manhood  unimpaired,  for 
his  habits  from  boyhood  had  been  rigidly  simple 
and  correct.  He  had  wasted  nothing  and  he 
could  therefore  endure  toils  that  were  too  exact- 
ing for  the  bodily  strength  of  many  another  able 
man. 

Mr.  Morgan  was  a  good  parliamentarian  and 
could  hold  his  own  as  a  general  debater,  but  he 
never  consumed  the  Senate's  working  hours  in 
speech-making.  He  was  a  legislator  confining 
himself  to  business  upon  the  principles  which 
had  given  him  his  successes  as  a  merchant. 

The  various  important  financial  measures  of 
President  Lincoln's  first  term  owed  so  much  to 
the  New  York  Senator,  that  at  the  beginning  of 
the  second  term  he  was  offered  the  portfolio  of 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  It  was  declined  for 
what  seemed  the  manifest  reason  that  the  na- 
tional finances  of  the  future  required  him  to 
remain  in  the  Senate.  His  decision  was  un- 
doubtedly as  correct  as  it  was  unselfish,  and  he 


EDWIN  DENISON  MORGAN  129 

continued  his  watchful  service  through  all  the 
stormy  years  of  President  Johnson's  administra- 
tion. 

At  the  end  of  his  Senatorial  term,  in  1869,  there 
was  nothing  to  demand  any  special  devotion  to 
politics.  The  affairs  of  the  nation  were  in  good 
hands,  while  the  affairs  of  the  house  of  E.  D. 
Morgan  &  Co.  seemed  to  ask  for  the  return  and 
attention  of  its  head.  They  had  been  managed 
by  capable  and  trustworthy  men,  always  more 
or  less  in  consultation  with  him,  and  the  credit  of 
the  firm  stood  high  at  home  and  abroad.  Even 
when  the  panic  of  1873  came,  a  few  years  later, 
and  the  whole  " Street"  seemed  to  go  down  to- 
gether at  once,  no  trace  of  the  storm  was  left  be- 
hind upon  the  financial  position  of  the  old  war- 
Governor. 

Not  that  he  was  really  old,  but  that  every 
resident  New  Yorker  had  known  him  for  so  long 
a  time,  during  all  of  which  he  had  been  a  prom- 
inent and  often  a  striking  figure.  It  was  said 
that  his  presence  upon  the  platform,  at  a  public 
meeting,  was  somewhat  like  adding  a  very  large 
percentage  to  the  number  of  men  present.  It 
surely  added  much  to  the  force  and  respecta- 
bility of  the  meeting,  for  he  was  now,  in  more 
respects  than  one,  a  historic  character. 

However  that  might  be,  he  was  an  exceedingly 
hard-working  character,  for  he  was  a  busy  di- 
rector in  banks,  railway  and  telegraph  com- 
panies, and  a  trustee  of  several  charitable  institu- 
tions. There  were  also  family  and  social  duties 
which  he  did  not  neglect,  and  he  was  during 
9 


130  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

many  years  the  president,  adviser,  and  liberal 
helper  of  the  Women's  Hospital.  He  was  well 
known  as  a  judicious  and  wisely  scrutinizing 
giver,  disposed  to  know  exactly  what  was  to  be 
done  with  the  money  given  and  to  act  as  a  di- 
recting counsellor  whenever  he  saw  a  need. 
Sometimes,  too,  his  advice  was  worth  quite  as 
much  as  his  money.  Of  his  larger  gifts,  $100,000 
went  to  Williams  College,  Massachusetts,  and  an- 
other $100,000  to  the  Presbyterian  Theological 
Seminary. 

In  September,  1881,  Chester  A.  Arthur  became 
President  of  the  United  States.  He  had  request- 
ed the  Cabinet  officers  appointed  by  President 
Garfield  to  remain  with  him,  and  all  but  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  did  so.  The  President 
at  once  offered  that  portfolio  to  Mr.  Morgan  and 
sent  the  nomination  to  the  Senate,  where  it  was 
promptly  confirmed.  It  was  a  graceful  recogni- 
tion alike  of  the  old  and  strong  tie  between  the 
President  and  his  early  friend,  and  of  the  high 
character  and  eminent  public  services  of  the 
nominee.  It  could  not  be  anything  more,  how- 
ever, for  the  sturdy  strength  which  had  en- 
dured so  well  was  beginning  to  yield  and  the 
honor  was  declined.  Only  two  years  later,  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1 88 1,  the  long  and  useful  career  of  the 
merchant-prince  and  patriotic  citizen  closed, 
amid  an  almost  universal  acknowledgment  that 
one  of  the  strongest  men  in  the  country  had 
finished  his  work. 


'• 


VIL 
CYRUS   WEST   FIELD. 

THERE  was  a  time  when  regions  and  places 
on  the  surface  of  the  earth  were  in  all  respects 
separated  from  each  other  by  measurable  dis- 
tances. The  time  required  for  communication 
from  point  to  point  was  governed  by  the  speed 
of  such  methods,  horse  or  ship  or  foot,  as  might 
convey  a  man,  a  messenger.  Very  nearly  in  a 
related  correspondence  was  there  a  wideness  of 
separation  in  feeling  among  communities  and 
nations.  Sympathies  were  narrowed,  neigh- 
borly feeling  could  not  grow,  and  in  times  of 
trial  the  hands  which  might  have  helped  were 
too  late  in  coming.  Numberless  were  the  in- 
stances of  resulting  evils,  greater  or  lesser,  for 
even  battles  were  fought  after  the  nominal  re- 
turn of  peace,  but  before  it  could  be  announced 
in  the  opposing  camps.  At  New  Orleans,  Jan- 
uary 8,  1815,  all  the  bloodshed  and  suffering 
were  needless,  for  the  treaty  of  Ghent  had  al- 
ready been  signed  two  weeks  when  General 
Pakenham  fell  and  his  veterans  recoiled  from 
before  the  American  lines. 

The  invention  of  the  electric  telegraph  and  the 
construction  of  land  lines  began  at  last  to  work 
a  kind  of  revolution,  but  the  victory  over  dis- 


132  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

tances,  so  important  to  the  future  of  the  world, 
was  only  half  won  so  long  as  the  wide  reaches  of 
the  oceans  remained  impassable. 

The  world  before  the  telegraph  and  the  world 
since  its  coming  are  hardly  the  same,  in  many 
great  features,  but  the  transition  from  the  old  to 
the  new  is  already  an  almost  forgotten  story. 
We  are  so  accustomed  to  the  news  of  all  the 
earth  that  we  receive  it  like  the  air,  and  think 
and  talk  as  if  our  ancestors  had  done  as  we  do. 

There  was  a  long  all  but  desperate  struggle 
before  the  oceans  ceased  to  be  barriers  in  the 
path  of  the  electric  current,  and  the  hero  part  of 
that  struggle  was  borne  by  a  man  who  went  into 
it  altogether  as  a  man  of  business,  undertaking 
an  enterprise  in  the  soundness  of  which  he  had 
what  may  be  described  as  "  business  faith."  In 
so  doing  he  offered  a  perfect  illustration  of  an 
element  essential  to  every  permanent  or  consid- 
erable business  success. 

Cyrus  West  Field  was  born  in  Stockbridge, 
Mass.,  February  20,  1819.  The  family  to  which 
he  belonged  has  been  fruitful  in  men  and  women 
of  exceptional  ability  through  several  genera- 
tions. His  own  parents  were  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances, but  he  received  excellent  home 
training  and  with  it  all  that  could  be  obtained 
from  the  very  good  public  school  and  academy 
of  Stockbridge.  Although  fond  of  books,  he  was 
a  tough  and  hardy  boy,  and  evinced  a  spirit  of 
adventure  which  was  to  bear  remarkable  fruit 
in  after  years. 

He  was  only  fifteen  when  it  became  desirable 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD  133 

that  he  should  begin  to  do  something  for  him- 
self, and  an  opening  was  ready  for  him.  An 
older  brother,  David  Dudley  Field,  was  begin- 
ning to  win  success  as  a  lawyer  in  New  York, 
and  through  him  employment  was  secured  in 
the  flourishing  dry-goods  house  of  A.  T.  Stewart 
&  Co.  It  was  a  capital  school  in  which  to  study 
the  ways  and  means  for  success  in  business,  but 
the  young  scholar  from  Stockbridge  did  not  be- 
come devoted  to  business  for  its  own  sake.  Es- 
pecially, he  formed  no  liking  for  the  dry-goods 
business.  Nevertheless,  he  remained  with  Mr. 
Stewart  during  about  six  years,  acquiring  the 
confidence  of  his  employer  and  of  other  men. 
He  had  been  looking  around  him  for  another 
kind  of  opening  and  he  had  found  one.  When 
he  became  of  age,  in  1840,  he  ceased  to  be  a 
clerk  that  he  might  set  out  for  himself,  with 
others,  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  paper.  It 
was  a  comparatively  small  beginning,  but  the 
paper  business  was  itself  in  its  infancy.  From 
that  time  onward  the  demand  and  consumption 
were  to  increase  with  marvellous  rapidity.  So 
were  all  the  machinery  and  appliances  of  manu- 
facture and  the  sources  of  supply  of  varied 
materials.  It  was  with  reference  to  this  develop- 
ment of  the  business  he  had  selected  that  the 
peculiar  faculties  and  training  of  Mr.  Field 
came  out  into  strong  contrast  with  those  of 
some  of  his  slower-footed  competitors  in  the 
paper  trade.  He  grew  with  the  growth  of  the 
demand,  meeting  it  with  so  much  of  shrewdness 
and  enterprise  year  after  year  that  he  was  only 


134  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

thirty-six  years  of  age  when  he  declared  that  his 
fortune  was  sufficient  and  he  was  ready  to  retire. 
Not  only  had  he  money  enough  ;  his  family  re- 
lations were  all  that  he  could  ask  for  ;  his  home 
was  an  acknowledged  social  centre ;  there  was 
no  need  for  toiling  so  severely  any  longer  ;  but 
he  longed  to  see  the  world  and  know  what  was 
in  it.  He  would,  therefore,  give  himself  to  books, 
to  art,  to  travel,  to  whatever  ways  in  life  the  pos- 
session of  wealth,  position,  and  friends  might  en- 
title him. 

Six  months  were  spent  in  travel  in  South 
America,  among  rivers  and  mountains  and  peo- 
ples outside  of  the  accustomed  paths  of  rich 
American  tourists,  but  all  the  while  a  remark- 
able proposition  had  been  preparing  for  his 
return.  His  brother,  Matthew  D.  Field,  and 
Frederick  Gisborne  had  planned  a  telegraph 
line  across  Newfoundland,  to  meet  the  news  of 
Europe  at  the  coast  and  send  it  to  New  York. 
It  would  be  "  six  days  or  less  "  from  its  starting 
point  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  if  the  plan 
could  be  carried  out,  and  all  the  vague  possibili- 
ties of  cable  telegraphy  came  in  as  hopes  to  add 
to  its  attraction. 

This  at  first  did  not  seem  to  be  very  strong, 
and  Mr.  Field  resisted  it.  All  his  pleasant  visions 
of  the  life  to  be  led  by  a  retired  merchant 
seemed  to  draw  him  in  an  opposite  direction. 
They  argued,  however,  and  he  pondered,  and 
all  the  while  a  great  dream  of  a  vast,  world- 
serving  enterprise  crept  into  his  mind  and  fixed 
itself,  taking  permanent  possession.  The  trans- 


CYRUS   WEST  FIELD  135 

atlantic  cable  had  become  the  business  of  his 
life. 

The  idea  was  by  no  means  new.  While  study- 
ing the  outlines  presented  him,  he  wrote  to  his 
friend,  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  and  received  for  reply 
that  the  inventor  himself,  as  long  ago  as  1843,  nad 
reported  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  :  "  Tele- 
graphic communication  on  the  electro-magnetic 
plan  may  with  certainty  be  established  across 
the  Atlantic  Ocean." 

As  to  the  ocean  itself,  its  tides  and  currents, 
its  deeps  and  shoals,  the  acknowledged  authority 
was  Lieutenant  M.  F.  Maury,  of  the  navy,  and  in- 
quiries sent  to  him  brought  back  an  encourage- 
ment that  was  almost  startling  in  its  nature  and 
timeliness.  The  recent  soundings  made  by  the 
United  States  brig  Dolphin  had  denned  the  exist- 
ence of  the  great  North  Atlantic  bottom  plateau, 
with  an  oozy  bed  that  seemed  as  if  it  were  made 
to  rest  cables  on.  Moreover,  recent  experiments 
in  the  use  of  gutta-percha  for  purposes  of  insula- 
tion seemed  to  set  at  rest  some  causes  of  anxiety 
concerning  the  character  of  the  cable  to  be 
laid.  As  to  the  route  across  Newfoundland,  it 
presented  somewhat  vaguely  the  idea  of  a 
rugged  wilderness  to  be  penetrated. 

Perhaps  Mr.  Field  did  not  yet  know  how  com- 
pletely he  had  given  himself  up  to  the  enterprise 
Avhich  was  taking  form  in  his  hands  as  he  pro- 
ceeded with  his  inquiries  and  calculations.  He 
had  now  gone  far  enough,  however,  to  assume 
the  position  of  its  eloquent  advocate,  when  he 
prudently  began  to  "  ask  the  advice "  of  such 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD 

men  as  he  selected  for  desirable  associates.  His 
own  views  and  plans  were  in  shape  for  vivid  pres- 
entation before  they  were  heard  and  scrutinized 
by  a  coterie  of  the  clearest-headed  business  men 
in  America.  His  next-door  neighbor  was  Mr. 
Peter  Cooper,  a  man  of  rare  acuteness  and  judg- 
ment, but  overflowing  with  business  dash  and 
courage.  To  him,  first  of  all,  the  new  scheme 
was  presented  across  the  library  table,  and  his 
prompt  and  strong  approval,  with  an  assurance 
of  pecuniary  support,  was  a  great  encouragement 
to  Mr.  Field.  His  own  brother,  David  Dudley 
Field,  had  already  joined  him  heartily,  and  there 
was  need  of  a  cool,  capable  counsellor  learned  in 
the  law. 

It  was  Mr.  Cooper's  opinion,  as  well  as  that  of 
Mr.  Field,  that  the  general  public  should  not  be 
consulted  nor  asked  to  contribute.  The  nature 
of  the  adventure  required  that  only  a  few  strong 
hands  should  carry  it.  The  next  recruit  sought 
was  Mr.  Moses  Taylor,  one  of  the  leading  capi- 
talists of  the  city,  and  known  also  as  one  of  the 
hardest  to  convince.  An  introduction  was  ob- 
tained, and  Mr.  Field  himself  recorded  that  the 
keen-eyed  financier  sat  and  listened  to  him  a  full 
hour  without  speaking  a  word.  He  then  gave 
his  assent,  however,  and  he  also  brought  in  his 
friend,  Mr.  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  a  man  whose 
name  was  as  a  synonym  for  dash  and  enterprise 
to  all  the  generation  of  business  men  that  knew 
him.  The  next  man  enlisted,  almost  against  his 
will  until  his  enthusiasm  was  aroused,  was  Mr. 
Chandler  White,  a  retired  merchant  of  large 


138  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

wealth,  a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Field.  It  was 
now  suggested  by  Mr.  Cooper  that  five  were  as 
good  as  ten  if  they  would  pull  together,  and  re- 
cruiting ceased,  but  Mr.  Wilson  G.  Hunt,  an  emi- 
nent merchant,  joined  them  about  a  year  later. 

Mr.  Field,  accompanied  by  his  brother  and  Mr. 
White,  were  now  ready  to  make  a  first  and  some- 
what stormy  voyage  to  St.  John's,  Newfound- 
land. They  were  well  received  with  assurances 
of  co-operation  from  the  colonial  government, 
and  after  a  surrender  of  what  may  be  called  the 
Gisborne  charter,  of  a  preliminary  undertaking 
which  had  failed  for  lack  of  capital,  a  new  com- 
pany was  chartered,  with  a  right  of  way,  a  grant 
of  land,  and  some  financial  help,  under  the  name 
of  the  New  York,  Newfoundland  &  London  Tel- 
egraph Company. 

As  yet  the  ocean  cable  was  a  thing  of  the 
future  and  of  doubtful  experiment.  It  was  a 
dream  entertained  by  Mr.  Field  and  his  brother 
and  their  four  visionary  financiers,  but  for  which 
sober-minded  people  were  not  yet  quite  ready. 
The  idea  presented  for  immediate  realization  was 
a  telegraph  line  across  Newfoundland,  a  cable 
across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  connection  with 
land  telegraph  lines  to  New  York,  and  then  the 
establishment  of  the  fastest  steamship  line  on 
earth.  Each  steamer  was  to  touch  at  St.  John's 
long  enough  to  land  news,  and  this  could  then  be 
telegraphed  to  New  York,  possibly  only  five  or 
six  days  from  London,  and  the  reverse  process 
was  to  be  accomplished  at  a  point  on  the  Irish 
coast,  a  land  line  across  Ireland  and  a  cable  to 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD  139 

England.  It  was  a  daring  scheme,  but  it  had  in 
it  no  traces  of  the  wildness  which  attached  to  the 
idea  of  a  telegraphic  rope  upon  the  bottom  of  the 
deep  sea. 

The  first  action  consisted  in  the  general  pay- 
ment of  debts  belonging  to  the  old  company  and 
assumed  by  the  new,  much  to  the  gratification  of 
many  people  in  St.  John's,  and  then  the  Ameri- 
can party  set  out  for  home.  Perhaps  the  char- 
acter of  the  five  cable  visionaries  may  appear 
somewhat  from  the  fact  that  their  other  business 
engagements  were  pressing,  so  that  Cyrus  W. 
Field  and  Chandler  White,  with  their  report,  met 
Moses  Taylor,  Peter  Cooper,  and  Marshall  O. 
Roberts  in  David  Dudley  Field's  dining-room  on 
Monday  morning,  May  8, 1854,  before  six  o'oclock. 
The  new  company  was  organized  ;  a  million  and 
a  half  of  dollars  was  subscribed  ;  Peter  Cooper  was 
made  president,  Chandler  White  vice-president, 
Moses  Taylor  treasurer,  all  before  the  sun  was 
well  up ;  and  then  part  of  them  went  home  and 
the  others  sat  down  to  breakfast  with  a  general 
understanding  that  the  company  expected  Cyrus 
W.  Field  to  go  on  and  do  whatever  he  might  deem 
needful. 

The  first  part  of  the  undertaking,  the  New- 
foundland line,  included,  under  the  provisions  of 
the  company's  charter,  "  a  good  and  traversable 
bridle  road  eight  feet  wide,  with  bridges  of  the 
same  width,"  along  the  entire  distance,  over  four 
hundred  miles.  The  country  was  a  wilderness 
of  mountain,  forest,  and  morass,  over  which  win- 
ter reigned  during  fully  half  of  each  year.  Of 


140  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

large  sections  of  the  proposed  pathway,  in  fact, 
there  had  as  yet  been  no  considerable  explora- 
tions since  the  discovery  of  the  country.  The 
cost  of  overcoming  the  difficulties  which  arose 
at  every  step  as  the  work  went  on  was  much  in 
excess  of  the  first  estimates,  but  the  projectors 
did  not  flinch.  Whenever  Mr.  Field  was  in  New 
York  his  house  was  the  office  of  the  company, 
and  its  directors  spent  their  evenings  there  dis- 
cussing the  Newfoundland  wilderness  ;  but  tow- 
ard the  end  of  1854  they  were  ready  to  send  him 
to  England  to  contract  for  the  cable  to  be  laid 
across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  to  connect 
Cape  Ray  with  the  Island  of  Cape  Breton. 

It  was  the  first  of  more  than  forty  voyages 
made  across  the  Atlantic  by  Mr.  Field.  He 
secured  his  short  cable,  but  discovered  that  the 
time  was  not  ripe,  nor  the  minds  of  men,  for  pre- 
senting the  idea  of  the  longer  line.  His  only 
convert  was  Mr.  Brett,  already  distinguished  for 
his  success  in  laying  two  cables  across  the  British 
Channel.  Mr.  Field  returned  and  all  things 
waited  until  the  following  summer.  By  that 
time  the  land  lines  were  doing  well  and  a  hun- 
dred and  forty  miles  of  "bridle  road"  were 
opened  across  the  Island  of  Cape  Breton. 

The  Gulf  cable  was  shipped  and  came  across 
the  ocean  safely.  All  things  seemed  to  be  going 
well.  Even  the  weather  was  good  when  the 
work  of  laying  began,  on  the  /th  of  August, 
1855.  When  about  forty  miles  had  been  paid  out, 
however,  a  violent  storm  arose  and  the  captain 
of  the  bark  which  carried  the  cable  was  com- 


CYRUS   WEST  FIELD  141 

pelled  to  cut  loose  in  order  to  save  his  craft  from 
utter  wreck.  The  loss  was  hopeless  and  the 
work  went  over  to  the  following  year.  If  it  had 
been  in  the  hands  of  weak  men  it  would  have 
been  given  up,  but  there  were  a  few  neighbor- 
hood consultations,  and  then  Mr.  Field  going 
again  to  England,  the  additional  cable  was 
ordered,  and  also  the  proper  fitting  up  of  a 
steamer  instead  of  a  sailing  vessel  to  carry  and 
pay  it  out. 

The  year  1856  came;  the  cable  was  laid  suc- 
cessfully ;  the  land  lines  worked  well ;  there  was 
telegraphic  communication  from  New  York  to 
the  most  easterly  point  of  America  at  which  the 
proposed  line  of  steamers  could  deliver  news, 
and  the  first  great  advance  had  been  made  tow- 
ard a  cable  across  the  ocean.  Thus  far  the  pro- 
jectors had  paid  out  over  a  million  of  dollars  in 
nearly  equal  portions,  Mr.  Field  somewhat  more 
than  the  others.  Small  sums  had  been  contrib- 
uted by  Professor  Morse,  Robert  W.  Lowther, 
and  Mr.  Brett,  the  cable-builder  of  England. 

Now,  however,  another  change  came,  for  the 
admission  of  Mr.  Wilson  G.  Hunt  to  the  board  of 
directors  and  to  a  share  in  the  financial  burdens 
was  made  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Chandler  White. 
The  changes  among  associates ;  the  unexpected 
trials  and  reverses ;  the  long  delays  ;  the  per- 
petual assurance  that  success  of  any  kind  was 
yet  a  thing  of  the  far  future — all  are  important 
considerations  in  a  study  of  the  kind  of  mental 
and  moral  fibre  capable  of  exercising  the  faith 
which  wins  success. 


142  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

During  all  this  time  the  general  subject  of 
ocean-cable  telegraphy  had  received  a  great  deal 
of  careful  study,  accompanied  by  numerous  ex- 
periments, by  the  best  electricians  of  Europe  and 
America.  There  were  yet  mechanical  obstacles  to 
be  overcome  and  problems  of  transmission  which 
had  not  by  any  means  been  solved.  The  keenest 
and  most  hopeful  investigators  were  the  very 
men  to  whose  minds  every  doubt  was  sure  to 
suggest  itself. 

Neither  bonds  nor  stock  of  the  company  had 
been  placed  upon  the  general  market,  but  now  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars  in  bonds  was  issued 
and  taken  at  par  by  the  associates  themselves 
prior  to  an  attempt  at  obtaining  English  co- 
operation. The  next  step  required  that  Mr. 
Field  should  go  to  England,  taking  his  family 
with  him,  and  reside  there  while  conducting 
financial  negotiations  and  superintending  experi- 
ments. He  went  in  the  summer  of  1856,  with 
full  power  of  all  kinds.  One  of  his  first  consul- 
tations after  reaching  London  was  with  his  old 
friend  Brett,  and  he  learned  how  deep  an  im- 
pression had  been  made  by  the  difficulties  met 
by  that  gentleman  in  laying  the  channel  lines  and 
by  the  first  failure  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 
If  so  much  had  to  be  overcome  in  laying  less 
than  three  hundred  miles  of  cable,  what  impossi- 
bilities might  block  the  way  of  one  three  thousand 
miles  long,  if  that  Avas  to  be  its  actual  length  ? 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Field  met  with  a  great  deal 
of  cordial  encouragement,  especially  from  scien- 
tific men  and  constructors.  Among  these  was 


CYRUS    WEST  FIELD  143 

Mr.  Brunei,  the  builder  of  the  great  steamship 
Great  Eastern.  He  took  Mr.  Field  to  look  at 
the  vast  hull  that  he  was  putting  together,  and 
remarked  :  "  There  is  the  ship  to  lay  the  Atlantic 
cable,"  but  neither  of  them  had  any  idea  of  what 
was  really  in  store  for  her. 

While  other  financial  negotiations  were  going 
on  Mr.  Field  opened  relations  with  the  British 
Government  and  was  listened  to  by  men  of  broad 
and  liberal  statesmanship,  fully  capable  of  com- 
prehending the  results  of  the  proposed  achieve- 
ment. 

Autumn  came  and  nearly  passed  before  a 
definite  success  seemed  near.  In  November  a 
favorite  sister  of  Mr.  Field,  who  had  accompanied 
him,  died  in  Paris,  while  he  and  his  family  were 
making  a  pleasure  trip  to  France,  but  he  returned 
from  her  funeral  to  be  stirred  into  activity  again 
by  the  decision  of  the  treasury  lords.  It  was 
given  in  the  form  of  an  offered  contract  with  the 
company  that  the  cable  should  be  laid  and  that  a 
subsidy  of  fourteen  thousand  pounds  sterling  per 
annum  should  be  paid,  from  the  date  of  the  com- 
pleted laying,  and  that  the  governments  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  should  have  equal 
rights  in  the  use  of  the  line.  Other  helps  and 
protections  were  promised  and  a  financial  basis 
was  obtained.  A  new  company  was  organized, 
called  the  Atlantic  Cable  Company,  with  a  cap- 
ital of  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds, 
and  Mr.  Field  undertook  to  obtain  subscriptions. 
He  began  in  London,  aided  by  enthusiastic 
friends,  and  he  went  to  Liverpool  and  Manches- 


144  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

ter  to  address  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  of 
those  cities,  but  he  had  no  need  to  go  further. 
Subscriptions  poured  in,  even  excessively,  and 
his  own  original  subscription  of  two-sevenths 
was  cut  down  to  one-fourth,  or  eighty-eight 
thousand  pounds,  which  he  expected  to  dis- 
tribute among  American  subscribers.  It  was  not 
a  "  promoter's  share,"  but  every  dollar  of  it  was 
actually  paid  in  money,  and  the  contemplated 
distribution,  owing  to  a  succession  of  interfer- 
ences, was  only  in  part  ever  made,  the  main  bur- 
den of  it  remaining  upon  Mr.  Field  himself. 

The  next  immediate  anxieties  in  England  re- 
lated to  the  mechanical  construction  of  the  cable 
itself  and  to  the  methods  and  perils  of  its  paying 
out  from  shipboard.  These,  however,  had  to  be 
left,  for  the  time,  in  other  hands,  for  questions  of 
vital  importance  summoned  him  to  the  United 
States.  He  arrived  in  New  York  on  Christmas 
Day,  but  not  for  rest  or  a  holiday,  for  there  was 
an  imperative  demand  for  his  presence  in  New- 
foundland. A  tempestuous  passage  landed  him 
at  St.  John's  under  the  care  of  a  physician,  but 
he  toiled  on  and  reached  New  York  again,  his 
errand  accomplished,  after  a  month  of  continual 
exposure,  sickness,  and  suffering.  It  was  a  part 
of  the  price  of  the  cable.  The  very  day  after 
his  return  he  went  on  to  Washington  to  ask  from 
his  own  government  something  like  the  recog- 
nition he  had  received  from  the  statesmen  of 
Great  Britain. 

So  far  as  President  Pierce  and  his  Cabinet 
were  concerned  the  response  was  all  that  he 


GYRUS  WEST  FIELD  145 

could  have  asked  for,  but  the  assent  of  Congress 
was  needed,  and  this  body  was  at  that  time  un- 
fortunately constituted.  Even  the  Senate,  while 
it  listened  to  the  arguments  of  Senators  Seward, 
of  New  York  ;  Rusk,  of  Texas ;  Douglas,  of  Illi- 
nois ;  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  and  other  able  men, 
in  behalf  of  the  cable  enterprise,  was  neverthe- 
less so  inert  or  so  suspicious  that  the  required 
legislation  was  at  last  carried  through,  after  a 
severe  contest,  by  a  bare  majority  of  one.  In 
the  House  of  Representatives  there  was  an  oppo- 
sition as  narrow  and  obtuse.  Only  at  the  end  of 
the  session  did  the  cable  bill  pass,  as  closely 
almost  as  in  the  Senate,  and  it  was  signed  by  Pres- 
ident Pierce  on  the  3d  of  March,  1857,  as  one  of 
the  latest  acts  of  his  administration. 

With  the  passage  of"  the  act  of  Congress  the 
cable  enterprise  put  on  a  new  aspect.  Its  funds 
had  been  provided  ;  its  cable  and  appliances  were 
approaching  completeness;  the  Newfoundland 
land  lines  and  the  cable  across  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  were  working  well ;  the  two  nations 
were  apparently  in  accord,  and  even  the  question 
of  the  transmission  of  messages  seemed  to  be  an- 
swered hopefully  by  the  later  experiments  of  the 
electricians. 

Our  own  government  assigned  the  Niagara, 
the  best  and  largest  steam-frigate  in  the  world, 
with  her  armament  removed,  attended  by  another 
fine  ship,  the  Susquehanna,  to  the  work  of  laying 
the  cable.  The  British  Government  had  in  like 
manner  placed  the  Agamemnon  and  the  Leopard 
at  the  service  of  the  company.  The  Niagara  was 
10 


146  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

to  begin  the  work  and,  after  a  splice  in  mid- 
ocean,  the  Agamemnon  was  to  finish  it.  The 
shore  end  was  anchored  on  the  5th  of  August, 
1857,  after  a  long  succession  of  courtesies  and 
festivities.  So  far  as  the  science  and  skill  then 
available  could  provide,  all  seemed  to  promise 
well,  and  at  an  early  hour  next  morning  the 
cable  fleet  moved  away.  Before  it  had  sailed 
five  miles,  the  heavy  and  somewhat  inflexible 
cable  used  for  the  shore  end  caught  in  the  ma- 
chinery and  snapped  in  twain ;  but  the  Niagara 
put  back,  the  lost  line  was  lifted  and  spliced  and 
another  beginning  was  made.  The  feeling  on 
board  is  described  as  intense.  The  suppressed 
excitement,  the  ceaseless  anxiety,  had  such  a 
power  that  all  through  the  following  night  even 
the  sailors  walking  the  deck  trod  softly,  as  if  there 
might  be  danger  in  a  heavy  footfall.  All  through 
the  next  two  days  the  weather  was  fine  and  mes- 
sages passed  freely  to  and  from  the  shore.  On 
land  a  somewhat  similar  anxiety  prevailed  and 
the  coming  of  bad  news  was  freely  prophesied, 
for  it  was  sagely  remarked  by  many  that  this  was 
a  new  thing,  and  Mr.  Field  had  never  before  laid 
an  ocean  cable.  He  was  not  used  to  it,  truly,  but 
his  long-tried  faith  was  receiving  an  apparent  jus- 
tification. 

There  was  no  cloud  upon  it  until  Monday 
evening,  when  they  were  over  two  hundred 
miles  from  shore  ;  but  then,  at  about  nine  o'clock, 
the  current  ceased  to  work,  without  any  assign- 
able cause.  It  was  as  if  the  hearts  of  men  stood 
still  while  the  electricians  tried  in  vain,  again  and 


CYRUS   WEST  FIELD  147 

again.  It  had  nearly  been  decided  to  cut  the 
cable  and  give  it  up,  when  suddenly  the  current 
came  again,  after  an  interruption  of  two  and 
a  half  hours.  The  ships  moved  on  again  and  all 
the  hopes  came  back  with  the  current,  but  before 
the  dawn  of  day  a  worse  thing  came.  The  cable 
seemed  to  be  running  out  with  perilous  freedom 
and  the  brakes  were  applied  just  as  the  stern  of 
the  Niagara  arose  from  a  deep  wave-trough,  and 
the  strain  was  too  great.  The  cable  snapped  and 
the  voyage  was  ended,  after  three  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  of  perfect  success,  more  than  one 
hundred  of  it  in  water  over  two  miles  deep. 

The  fleet  sailed  back,  and  it  was  determined 
not  to  try  again  at  once,  but  at  least  to  wait  for 
the  construction  of  more  perfect  appliances,  sug- 
gested by  this  first  experience.  The  directors  of 
the  London  company  seemed  to  be  by  no  means 
disheartened,  but  ordered  new  cable  to  replace 
the  lost  piece  and  proposed  to  be  ready  for 
another  attempt  in  1858. 

Mr.  Field  soon  returned  to  America,  only  to 
hear  of  the  great  financial  panic  of  1857.  ^  nac^ 
swept  the  country  like  a  hurricane  and  his  own 
fortune  had  suffered  severely.  He  was  not  a 
bankrupt,  but  he  was  no  longer  a  rich  man.  It 
had  been  a  terrible  year  and  it  closed  in  the  dark- 
ness of  a  great  doubt,  for  the  temporary  confi- 
dence of  the  previous  summer  was  all  gone  and 
in  the  minds  and  utterances  of  many  men  he  was 
once  more  a  mere  visionary,  following  a  will-o'- 
wisp. 

The  first  experiment  had  sunk  a  hundred  thou- 


148  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

sand  pounds  of  the  company's  capital,  and  there 
was  difficulty  in  replacing  it ;  but  this  was  done, 
and  Mr.  Field  returned  to  England  as  general  man- 
ager, after  obtaining  from  President  Buchanan's 
administration  all  the  ships  and  co-operation 
asked  for.  Comparatively  poor  as  he  now  was, 
he  refused  the  compensation  offered  for  his  ser- 
vices, a  thousand  pounds,  and  worked  without 
wages. 

The  improvements  of  all  kinds  were  many  and 
important,  but  their  very  supervision  gave  Mr. 
Field  several  months  of  severe,  unresting  toil. 
The  Susquehanna  being  detained  in  the  West 
Indies  by  yellow  fever  on  board,  the  British 
Government  replaced  her  with  the  Valorous. 

This  time  the  laying  of  the  cable  was  to  begin 
in  mid-ocean,  the  two  ships  to  meet,  splice  cable, 
and  sail  toward  opposite  shores.  The  cable 
squadron  sailed  from  England  June  10,  1858. 
Even  in  getting  to  the  ocean  rendezvous,  terrific 
storms  all  but  wrecked  vessels  so  heavily  and 
unmanageably  laden,  but  on  the  25th  of  June 
they  were  all  together  at  the  place  appointed. 
Days  had  been  consumed  in  repairing  the  conse- 
quences of  the  bad  weather,  but  on  the  26th  the 
splice  was  made  and  the  work  began.  It  was 
only  a  beginning,  for  barely  three  miles  of  line 
were  out  before  there  was  a  hitch  and  a  snap- 
ping. Three  miles  was  no  great  loss.  Another 
splice  was  made  and  another  start.  This  time 
forty  miles  of  cable  ran  out  well  and  then  the 
current  ceased,  no  man  ever  knew  why.  It  was 
disheartening,  but  that  piece  of  cable  also  was 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD  149 

counted  lost,  the  ships  came  back,  the  cable  ends 
were  joined,  and  a  third  time  the  messages  ran 
well  as  the  Niagara  and  Agamemnon  slowly 
separated.  On  they  sailed,  and  hope  almost 
grew  bright  again,  until  they  were  about  two 
hundred  miles  apart,  and  then  it  died.  It  was  on 
the  night  of  Tuesday,  June  28th,  that  the  current 
ceased.  The  cable  had  broken  about  twenty  feet 
from  the  stern  of  the  Agamemnon.  Had  the  ves- 
sels been  nearer  each  other,  a  new  trial  might 
have  been  made,  but  as  it  was,  both  gave  it  up 
and  sailed  back  to  England. 

The  directors  bravely  determined  to  try  again, 
but  it  was  almost  with  the  courage  of  despair 
that  the  needful  preparations  were  made.  So 
completely  had  other  men  abandoned  the  wild 
scheme  that  the  cable  fleet,  when  ready,  steamed 
away  without  having  any  notice  taken  of  their 
going.  Even  those  on  board  the  ships  were 
dull  and  downcast.  It  was  afterward  said  by 
those  on  the  Niagara:  "Mr.  Field  was  the  only 
man  on  board  who  kept  up  his  courage  through 
it  all." 

It  was  on  Thursday,  July  2Qth,  that  a  splice 
was  made  and  laying  cable  began.  That  very 
evening  the  current  ceased  for  a  while,  and  all 
seemed  lost,  but  it  mysteriously  returned  and 
the  work  went  on.  The  next  day  the  Niagara's 
compasses  went  wrong  on  account  of  the  mass  of 
attraction  on  board,  and  she  wandered  out  of  her 
course  until  the  British  ship  Gordon  went  ahead 
as  guide. 

From  that  time  onward  there  were  checks  and 


150  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

anxieties  one  after  another,  with  seemingly  in- 
surmountable difficulties  to  overcome  as  they 
were  met,  with  storms  and  contrary  winds,  with 
perils  even  from  merchant  ships  that  crossed  the 
cable-laying  course,  one  of  them  nearly  running 
down  the  Niagara.  All  were  passed,  and  on 
Thursday,  August  4th,  the  Niagara  anchored 
in  Trinity  Bay,  Newfoundland,  and  the  cable 
seemed  to  be  laid,  for  the  Agamemnon  was 
already  safe  in  Valentia  Bay,  Ireland.  The  next 
day,  the  5th,  Mr.  Field  sent  a  long  despatch  to 
the  Associated  Press,  to  suprise  millions  of 
people  who  had  only  heard  of  the  first  failures 
and  had  utterly  given  up  any  belief  in  him  or  his 
enterprise. 

There  was  a  corresponding  reaction  in  the 
minds  of  men.  Cannon  salutes  were  fired ;  bells 
rang;  crowds  cheered;  the  news  was  received 
as  that  of  one  of  the  greatest  victories  ever  won 
in  peace,  better  than  any  victory  won  in  war. 

There  was  much  to  be  done  upon  the  broken- 
down  Newfoundland  land  lines  before  a  through 
message  could  be  sent.  Mr.  Field  and  a  force 
went  into  the  woods  at  once  to  make  the  repairs 
and  then,  although  the  cable  was  working  well, 
the  doubters  began  to  deride  again. 

The  first  message  from  shore  to  shore  was 
from  the  English  directors  to  the  American : 
"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest ;  on  earth  peace, 
good  will  toward  men."  The  first  through  mes- 
sages, however  (August  i6th)  were  one  from 
Queen  Victoria  to  President  Buchanan  and  the 
President's  reply.  Then  the  enthusiasm  broke 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD  151 

out  again.  The  flags  everywhere  went  up,  the 
cannon  thundered,  and  the  church-bells  rang 
clamorously,  while  the  name  of  Mr.  Field  was 
greeted  with  boisterous  cheering,  as  the  hero  of 
the  hour,  fit  to  be  named  with  Franklin  and 
Columbus.  There  seemed  no  limit  and  no  ces- 
sation in  the  all  but  tumultuous  rejoicings. 

On  the  evening  of  the  i/th  the  city  of  New 
York  was  illuminated,  there  was  a  great  torch- 
light procession  of  firemen,  and  a  grand  public 
reception  in  honor  of  Mr.  Field  and  his  asso- 
ciates, with  the  officers  of  the  cable-ships. 

As  Mr.  Field  was  entering  his '  carriage  to  at- 
tend the  reception  a  despatch  from  the  London 
directors  was  handed  him,  and  on  reaching  the 
platform  he  at  once  stepped  forward  and  read 
it  to  the  enthusiastic  assembly. 

The  cheering  was  half  frantic.  It  was  the 
culmination  of  a  triumph  won  at  untellable  cost, 
and  yet  it  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  darkness, 
for  that  was  the  last  message  received  over  the 
cable  of  1858.  Down  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean 
some  inexplicable  blow  had  been  given  and 
something  like  a  death  had  followed. 

Almost  excessive  as  had  been  the  outburst  of 
rejoicing,  the  fever-heat  of  unexpected  success, 
correspondingly  bitter  and  unreasonable  was  the 
reversal  and  the  harshness  caused  by  disappoint- 
ment. It  was  freely  asserted,  against  all  evi- 
dence, that  no  messages  had  ever  crossed  the 
ocean  and  that  Mr.  Field  had  but  engineered  a 
stock-jobbing  fraud.  Bitter  indeed  was  the  cup 
held  out  to  him,  and  all  previous  trials  seemed  as 


152  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

nothing  compared  to  this.  Even  his  brave  asso- 
ciates in  England  and  America  were  at  last  dis- 
mayed, although  they  stood  firmly  by  him  and 
defended  his  personal  character.  This,  indeed, 
was  sustained,  as  men  grew  calmer,  but  his  fort- 
une had  disappeared  and  little  seemed  left  ex- 
cept the  ghost  of  a  great  failure. 

The  real  strength  of  the  cable  enterprise  lay, 
after  all,  in  the  vast  results  which  were  attainable 
by  its  success.  The  British  Government  refused 
to  give  it  up,  although  when  applied  to  for  large 
financial  aid  there  were  reasons  for  hesitation. 
The  following  year,  however,  its  Board  of 
Trade  appointed  a  committee  of  experts  to  in- 
vestigate the  entire  subject  and  report. 

Two  years  later  (i  86 1)  this  committee  made  an 
elaborate,  somewhat  bulky  but  favorable  report, 
but  the  times  were  out  of  joint  for  cable-laying. 
The  American  civil  war  was  at  its  height,  the 
relations  between  England  and  America  were 
strained,  and  there  were  many  who  declared 
that,  for  military  and  political  reasons,  no  cable 
should  be  permitted.  President  Lincoln  and  his 
Cabinet  were  wiser,  for  Mr.  Seward,  the  cham- 
pion of  Mr.  Field  in  the  Senate,  was  now 
Secretary  of  State.  The  real  difficulty  in  the 
way  was  one  of  capital  and  it  seemed  for  a  while 
insuperable.  In  1862  Mr.  Field  undertook  to 
meet  it  in  person.  He  visited  Boston,  Philadel- 
phia, Albany,  Buffalo,  calling  together  assemblies 
of  merchants,  bankers,  and  other  business  men, 
to  address  them  on  behalf  of  his  project.  They 
came,  they  received  him  well,  but  they  gave  him 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD  153 

no  money.  In  New  York  he  addressed  such 
bodies  as  the  Stock  Board,  the  Corn  Exchange, 
and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  It  was  all  in 
vain  until  he  went  from  man  to  man,  asking  for 
subscriptions  to  start  again  with,  begging  from 
door  to  door,  until  he  obtained  about  seventy 
thousand  pounds  and  could  go  once  more  to  stir 


The  Great  Eastern  Laying  the  Atlantic  Cable. 

up  English  liberality.  He  went  and  the  prospect 
seemed  good,  for  in  August,  1864,  the  London 
directors  advertised  lor  proposals  for  a  new 
cable.  A  number  were  made  to  them  and  one  was 
so  entirely  satisfactory  that  Mr.  Field  returned 
hopefully  to  America.  It  was  only  to  wait  lor 
and  receive  news  of  delays  which  postponed  the 
cable-laying  one  year  more. 


154  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

There  had  been  many  notable  advances  in  cable- 
laying  since  the  great  disappointment  of  1858,  but 
perhaps  the  best  of  all  was  now  made  when  the 
company  secured  control  of  the  Great  Eastern. 
She  offered  the  essential  element  of  steadiness  in 
motion  during  the  paying-out  process.  Even  her 
vast  hull,  however,  required  a  great  deal  of  chang- 
ing and  fitting  up,  and  Mr.  Field  returned  to 
England  late  in  the  spring  of  1865  to  find  her  not 
quite  ready.  The  finances  of  the  company,  how- 
ever, were  now  in  very  good  condition,  and  all 
preliminaries  were  ended  in  good  season.  On 
the  23d  of  July  the  Great  Eastern  began  her  work, 
the  shore  end  of  the  cable  being  already  laid. 
Then,  although  all  the  paying-out  machinery 
worked  perfectly,  a  new  enemy  was  discovered. 
Only  a  few  miles  out  from  shore  the  electric 
tests  indicated  a  fault,  the  cable  was  recovered 
to  find  it,  and  a  small  wire  was  discovered  driven 
through  its  covering.  A  piece  was  taken  out,  a 
splice  was  made,  the  ship  sailed  on,  and  all  went 
well  until  the  2Qth,  when  the  same  thing  occurred 
again  in  deeper  water,  with  greater  difficulty  in 
the  recovery.  It  was  now  plain  to  all  who  ex- 
amined the  matter  that  treachery  had  been  at 
work,  but  none  could  imagine  the  agent.  After 
that  a  closer  watch  was  kept,  and  further  mis- 
chief was  apparently  out  of  the  question.  Twelve 
hundred  miles  of  cable  ran  out  perfectly.  Only 
six  hundred  more  remained  to  be  run.  Two  or 
three  days  would  bring  them  to  Newfoundland. 
The  problem  was  solved,  if  it  had  not  been  for 
the  breaking  down  of  the  too  feeble  machinery 


CYRUS   WEST  FIELD 


155 


with  which  a  discovered  "  fault "  was  being  at- 
tended to.  The  cable  was  fouled  by  the  Great 
Eastern  herself,  snapped  like  a  thread  and  went 
to  the  bottom.  Days  were  spent  in  attempts  to 
grapple  and  raise  it,  which  failed  only  for  lack  of 


Landing  Shore  End  of  the  Cable  at  Heart's  Content,  Newfoundland. 

sufficiently  strong  apparatus,  and  then  once  more 
Mr.  Field  was  carried  back  to  England  for  a  con- 
sultation with  the  directors. 

They  again  proved  equal  to  the  demand  upon 
their  perseverance.  They  ordered  a  new  cable 
made  with  all  improvements  which  could  be  de- 
vised. On  the  1 3th  of  July,  1866,  the  Great  East- 
ern again  steamed  out  to  sea  with  the  new  cable 


156  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

passing  over  her  stern,  and  this  time  there  was 
no  failure  to  record.  The  current  news  of  Europe 
came  from  hour  to  hour  unceasingly.  A  war  was 
raging  between  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Italy,  and 
the  battle  tidings  reached  the  cabin  of  the  Great 
Eastern,  but  when,  on  the  2/th  of  July,  Mr.  Field 
went  ashore  to  send  a  telegram  announcing 
success,  the  latest  news  from  the  Old  World 
was  of  peace  declared  between  the  contending 
powers. 

The  land  lines,  long  unused,  required  repairs, 
and  Mr.  Field  went  to  work  upon  them,  while 
the  Great  Eastern  steamed  away  to  grapple  for 
and  raise  the  lost  cable  of  1865.  This  was  a  se- 
vere task,  but  after  several  failures  it  was  accom- 
plished in  September. 

Public  opinion  at  home  and  abroad  turned  in 
a  great  tide  toward  Mr.  Field  and  honors  were 
heaped  upon  him,  while  full  justice  was  done  to 
his  British  and  American  co-operators.  He  him- 
self for  a  time  experienced  a  feeling  of  weariness, 
and  was  willing  to  rest  if  he  could  be  permitted 
to  do  so. 

At  a  banquet  given  him  by  the  New  York 
Chamber  of  Commerce  he  expressed  his  own 
view  of  his  achievement  better  than  another  could 
do  it  for  him.  He  said  : 

"  It  has  been  a  long  struggle.  Nearly  thirteen 
years  of  anxious  watching  and  ceaseless  toil. 
Often  my  heart  has  been  ready  to  sink.  Many 
times  when  wandering  in  the  forests  of  New- 
foundland in  the  pelting  rain,  or  on  the  decks  of 
ships  on  dark,  stormy  nights  alone  far  from  home, 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD  157 

I  have  almost  accused  myself  of  madness  and 
folly,  to  sacrifice  the  peace  of  my  family  and  all 
the  hopes  of  life  for  what  might  prove,  after  all, 
but  a  dream.  I  have  seen  my  companions,  one 
and  another,  falling  by  my  side,  and  feared  that 
I  might  not  live  to  see  the  end.  And  yet  one 
hope  has  led  me  on,  and  I  have  prayed  that  1 
might  not  taste  of  death  till  this  work  was  accom- 
plished. That  prayer  is  answered,  and  now,  be- 
yond all  acknowledgments  to  men,  is  the  feeling 
of  gratitude  to  Almighty  God." 

Time  was  required  to  recover  from  so  long  and 
severe  a  strain,  but  he  was  only  forty-seven  years 
of  age,  and  he  soon  rallied.  He  had  abundant  stim- 
ulus, for  he  was  now  once  more  in  affluence,  and 
his  separations  from  his  family  were  ended.  Con- 
gress gave  him  a  vote  of  thanks  and  a  gold  medal. 
The  Paris  Exposition  of  1867  gave  him  its  highest 
honor,  a  gold  medal.  The  King  of  Italy  gave 
him  the  order  of  St.  Mauritius.  At  every  turn 
and  on  every  appearance  in  public  he  was  met 
by  some  hearty  token  of  the  universal  apprecia- 
tion of  his  fidelity  in  that  long  struggle  for  the 
realization  of  a  business  man's  dream. 

He  did  not  at  once  engage  in  other  undertak- 
ings, for  there  was  much  yet  to  be  done  in  con- 
nection with  the  business  affairs  of  the  cable.  In 
1869,  however,  he  attended  the  formal  opening  of 
the  Suez  Canal  as  representative  of  the  New  York 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  gratifying  somewhat  the 
early  longing  for  travel  which  had  led  him  to  his 
tour  in  South  America. 

On  his  return  he  took  an  active  interest  in 


158  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

varied  business  affairs,  being  received  wherever 
he  went  as  one  of  his  country's  most  distin 
guished  citizens.  Most  notable  of  all  were  his 
efforts  for  the  development  of  the  system  of 
elevated  railways  of  the  city  of  New  York,  but 
their  general  control  and  management  passed 
into  other  hands. 


Shore  End  of  Cable— exact  size. 

In  1874  Mr.  Field's  love  ol  travel  carried  him 
to  Iceland,  accompanied  by  Bayard  Taylor  and 
Murat  Halstead.  In  1880-1  he  went  around 
the  world  by  way  of  San  Francisco,  the  Pa- 
cific, Japan,  China,  India,  and  the  Suez  route 
home. 

It  was  at  the  end  of  another  decade,  after  long 
rest  in  honor  and  prosperity,  that  Mr.  and  Mrs. 


CYRUS    WEST  FIELD  159 

Field,  on  December  2,  1890,  celebrated  their  gol 
den  wedding. 

It  was  almost  the  close  of  all.  In  the  course 
ot  1891  she  faded  from  him,  and  other  bereave- 
ments followed.  His  work  was  done  and  he, 
too,  passed  away  July  12,  1892.  To  the  very 
last  his  mind  had  been  busy  with  varied  under- 
takings, among  which  was  a  concession  which  he 
had  obtained  for  a  Pacific  cable,  by  way  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  to  Asia. 

At  the  southern  terminus  of  Broadway  there 
is  a  spot  associated  with  all  the  earlier  history 
of  the  city.  It  was  separated  only  by  a  pa- 
rade-ground from  the  first  rude  fortification 
which  defended  the  Dutch  settlers  from  the  In- 
dians, and  which  was  replaced  at  a  later  day  by 
the  British  Fort  George.  Here,  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war  for  independence,  were  the 
headquarters  of  General  Putnam,  commanding 
the  first  American  garrison  of  New  York.  It 
was  and  is  "  Number  i  Broadway,"  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  town.  It  fronts  upon  the  Bowl- 
ing Green,  from  which  the  angry  patriots  tore 
down  the  leaden  equestrian  statue  of  King 
George  III. 

On  this  spot  Mr.  Field  erected  a  vast  office 
building,  a  kind  of  landmark,  visible  from  far 
out  on  the  Bay.  He  called  it  the  "  Washington," 
but  most  other  men  the  "  Field,"  Building.  It 
is  not,  nor  could  any  structure  in  brick  and  stone 
and  iron  become,  nearly  so  enduring  a  monu- 
ment to  his  memory  as  is  provided  by  the  ocean 
cables  which  now,  one  after  another,  span  the 


160  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Atlantic.  It  is  more  visible,  however,  and  it  • 
may  be  pointed  out  as  recording  a  business  suc- 
cess which  seemed  to  be  won  by  a  faith  which 
did  not  fail  with  the  faith  of  weaker  men,  but 
before  which,  at  last,  not  a  mountain,  literally, 
but  the  sea,  was  overcome. 


Chauncey  Mitchell    Depew. 


VIII. 
CHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW. 

IT  may  be  that  the  several  nationalities,  large 
and  small,  occupying  the  area  described  upon 
the  maps  as  Europe,  offer  no  other  feature  more 
remarkable  than  the  distinctness  of  their  con- 
tinued separation,  after  ages  of  neighborhood 
and  intercourse.  A  sufficient  example  is  given 
by  the  population  of  the  British  Isles,  with 
Welsh,  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish  elements  blend- 
ing so  slowly,  generation  after  generation. 

In  strong  contrast  with  this  Old  World  charac- 
teristic is  the  rapidity  with  which  immigration 
to  America  from  so  many  origins  melts  into  the 
newly  marked,  composite  American  nationality. 
The  new  type  presents  its  most  perfect  examples 
among  the  descendants  of  the  earlier  settlers,  as 
a  matter  of  course.  These  were,  for  the  greater 
part,  men  and  women  of  exceptional  moral  and 
mental  capacity,  as  well  as  physical  force.  They 
laid  a  wonderfully  good  foundation  for  the  new 
political  building.  They  transmitted  a  better  in- 
heritance than  riches.  The  high  qualities  which 
fitted  them  to  become  the  founders  of  a  great 
nation  are  shown,  undiminished,  by  a  multitude 
of  their  descendants.  One  of  these  characteris- 
tics is  the  peculiar  faculty  for  self-adaptation  to 


162  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

new  or  changing  circumstances.  It  is  not  so 
much  versatility,  however,  as  it  is  an  inborn 
power  of  growth. 

On  his  mother's  side,  Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew 
is  descended  from  the  oldest  and  best  colonial 
stock  of  New  England.  Roger  Sherman,  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  Declaration  ol  Independence, 
was  Mrs.  Martha  Mitchell  Depew's  granduncle. 
The  Depew  family  were  French  Huguenots,  who 
fled  to  America  upon  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes  in  1685.  With  others  of  their  race  and 
faith  who  had  preferred  exile  to  submission  to 
tyranny,  they  made  their  first  American  home  in 
Westchester  County,  New  York. 

The  entire  country  west  of  the  Hudson,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  settlements, 
was  at  that  time  an  unbroken  wilderness.  Fully 
half  a  century  later  the  lands  still  occupied  and 
firmly  held  by  the  Six  Nations  extended  to  the 
river-bank  above  the  Highlands.  The  very 
roughness  of  the  Catskill  Mountain  country, 
however,  offered  exceptional  protection  from 
Indian  raids  to  such  little  communities  as  that 
which  before  long  began  at  what  has  ever  since 
been  known  as  Peekskill.  The  majority  of  its 
earlier  settlers  were  of  Dutch  extraction.  Here, 
before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
Depew  family  acquired  property,  and  soon  after- 
ward built  a  dwelling  so  substantial  that  a  part 
of  it  remains,  included  in  the  homestead  standing 
to-day. 

It  was  in  this  old  homestead  that  Chauncey  M. 
Depew  was  born  on  April  23,  1834.  Here  he 


CHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW  163 

passed  the  days  of  his  boyhood  and  earlier  youth, 
amid  the  splendid  scenery  of  the  American  Rhine, 
surrounded  by  all  the  simple  but  solid  advantages 
of  what  is,  for  many  reasons,  the  best  rural  life  in 
all  the  world.  Of  his  home  itself,  aside  from  its 
substantial  comfort,  little  more  need  be  said  than 
that  its  social  as  well  as  its  religious  tone  were 
of  a  high  order.  It  was  a  place  for  the  develop- 
ment of  self-respect ;  for  the  formation  of  firm 
principles ;  for  the  acquisition  of  clear  percep- 
tions of  right  and  wrong.  The  family  traditions 
were  themselves  important  educational  agents. 
Habits  of  industry  and  economy  came  as  matters 
of  course,  for  circumstances  required  them. 

There  was,  in  like  manner,  a  plain  indication 
set  before  Chauncey  from  his  childhood,  that  he 
must  expect  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world. 
No  other  fortune  could  come  to  him  than  such 
as  he  might  win  for  himself,  and  it  is  to  his  own 
success  that  he  owes  the  fact  of  owning  to-day 
the  house  in  which  he  was  born. 

It  is  not  often  that  trustworthy  indications  of 
a  boy's  future  attainments  are  to  be  discerned  in 
his  treatment  of  his  first  text-books.  There  were 
schools  at  Peekskill,  and  he  was  a  regular  attend- 
ant season  after  season ;  but  he  was  not,  it  is  said, 
a  distinguished  young  scholar,  excepting  on  the 
ball-ground.  He  was  also  noted,  moreover,  as  a 
fellow  whom  all  the  other  fellows  liked  for  the 
genial  good-will  and  the  endless  fun  they  found 
in  him. 

That  he  did  not  actually  neglect  his  tasks  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  in  due  season  he  pre- 


164  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

pared  for  college,  entering  the  freshman  class  at 
Yale  in  his  eighteenth  year.  Somewhat  the 
same  features  were  to  be  found  in  the  history  of 
his  college  course,  but  his  time  at  Yale  was  in  no 
respect  wasted.  The  vigorous,  athletic,  fun- 
loving  boy  was  developing  into  a  man  with  a 
strength  and  independence  of  character,  very 
imperfectly  understood  at  first  by  the  already 
long  list  of  men  who  liked  him.  There  are,  in- 
deed,  very  many  who  fail  to  see  how  strong  an 
element  is  genuine  "  geniality  "  in  the  difficult  art 
of  controlling  or  directing  others. 

Mr.  Depew  was  graduated  in  1856,  and  entered 
at  once  the  law  office  of  Hon.  William  Nelson,  in 
Peekskill.  It  was  a  time  of  intense  political  fer^ 
mentation,  and  party  spirit  was  at  fever-heat.  Of 
the  old  political  organizations,  the  Whig  party 
seemed  to  be  passing  away.  It  had  become  a 
form  without  life.  The  Democratic  party,  while 
seemingly  all-powerful,  was  rent  by  factions. 
Outside  of  both,  as  well  as  nominally  within  them, 
were  important  political  elements,  especially  in 
the  Northern  States,  which  only  required  gather- 
ing and  shaping  to  constitute  an  entirely  new 
party.  The  processes  of  this  combination  were 
at  work,  and  in  1856,  at  the  Pittsburg  "  mass-meet- 
ing" and  at  the  Philadelphia  convention  which 
followed  it,  the  People's  party,  soon  to  be  known 
as  the  Republican  party,  began  to  take  its  nota- 
ble part  in  the  history  of  the  nation. 

Mr.  Depew's  political  career  began  with  the 
life  of  his  party.  A  young  law  student  just  out 
of  college,  he  entered  the  campaign  of  1856  with 


CHAUNCET  MITCHELL  DEPEW  165 

enthusiasm,  and  his  ability  as  a  stump-speaker  at 
once  attracted  attention.  The  party  candidates, 
Fremont  and  Dayton,  were  not  elected.  Few  of 
their  supporters  had  expected  so  much  as  that, 
but  a  great  success  was  won  in  carrying  eleven 
States,  with  one  hundred  and  fourteen  votes  in  the 
electoral  college.  Mr.  Depew  went  back  to  his 
law  books,  and  two  years  later,  in  1858,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  in  the  very  heat  of  another 
political  campaign.  He  gained  a  prominence 
which  brought  him,  in  1860,  a  nomination  to  the 
State  Assembly.  It  was  the  famous  "  Lincoln 
campaign,"  so  sharply,  ably  contested,  with  such 
fierce  excitements  in  every  corner  of  the  country, 
and  with  such  tremendous  consequences  almost 
visible  in  the  immediate  future.  During  the 
canvass,  Mr.  Depew  did  not  confine  himself  to 
the  Hudson  River  districts,  but  spoke  at  many 
points  throughout  the  State,  winning  a  rare  ora- 
torical reputation  for  so  very  young  a  speaker. 

He  was  elected,  and  he  took  his  seat  in  the 
Legislature,  but  not  to  disappear  among  the 
clever  mob  of  young  assemblymen  in  the  some- 
what customary  way  of  newly  fledged  politicians. 
It  was  a  time  when  all  the  interests  of  the  com- 
monwealth, as  of  the  nation  itself,  were  calling 
loudly  for  men  of  courage,  energy,  and  capacity. 
The  sudden  exigencies  of  the  civil  war  threw 
upon  the  Legislature,  composed  largely  of  new 
men,  duties  for  which  its  membership,  young  or 
old,  had  no  previous  preparation.  The  attitude 
and  action  of  the  Empire  State  were  of  vital 
importance  to  all  other  States.  She  was  to  raise 


166  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

and  forward  more  troops  than  any  other,  and  she 
held  the  keys  of  finance.  There  were  endless 
questions  both  of  law  and  of  prudence  requiring 
prompt  solution  by  her  legislators.  Timidities, 
vacillations,  criticisms,  and  even  treacheries  and 
unconcealed  disloyalties  were  to  be  dealt  with 
from  day  to  day.  There  were  many  good  and 
able  men  in  that  Assembly  of  1860.  How  deep 
a  mark  must  have  at  once  been  made,  therefore, 
by  the  young  member  from  Peekskill,  by  his  ad- 
mirable mastery  of  the  complex  public  business 
brought  before  him,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
fact  that  when,  two  years  later,  he  was  re-elected, 
he  was  speedily  made  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means.  This  is  distinctively  the 
business  men's  committee  of  any  American  legis- 
lative body.  He  also  was  elected  to  serve  as 
Speaker  of  the  House,  pro  tern.  That  Mr. 
Depew's  usefulness  during  his  first  term  was 
appreciated  outside  of  the  Assembly  chamber 
appears  from  the  fact  of  his  re-election  at  a  time 
when  his  party  was  suffering  many  disasters. 
His  success  as  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee,  and  as,  by  that  fact,  leader  of  the 
House  on  the  Republican  side,  was  also  pointed- 
ly recognized,  for,  at  the  expiration  of  his  term, 
he  was  tendered  a  public  banquet  by  leading 
citizens  of  New  York  City.  He  was  soon  to  be 
given  a  yet  more  striking  assurance  of  the  esti- 
mate placed  upon  him,  for  the  next  State  con- 
vention made  him  the  Republican  candidate  for 
Secretary  of  State. 

The  bodily  toughness  which  had  marked  Mr. 


CHAUNCET  MITCHELL  DEPEW  167 

Depew  in  his  schoolboy  and  college  days  had 
again  attracted  attention,  during  the  exhausting 
days  and  nights  of  prolonged  Assembly  sessions 
and  frequent  committee  meetings.  It  was  now 
to  undergo  a  test  of  more  than  ordinary  severity. 
The  political  campaign  of  1863  was  in  many  re- 
spects remarkable.  It  was  not  a  Presidential 
campaign,  in  which  all  men  are  accustomed  to 
take  an  interest.  There  was  not  any  State  ques- 
tion of  importance  before  the  people.  The  popu- 
larity or  otherwise  of  individual  candidates  had 
little  to  do  with  its  course  at  the  outset.  It  was 
a  campaign  which  turned  upon  national  issues, 
and  which  was  to  prepare  beforehand  for  the 
Presidential  contest  of  the  next  year,  1864.  Mr. 
Depew  was  called  upon  to  stand  forth  as  an  ad- 
vocate vindicating  the  Lincoln  administration,  on 
trial  for  failure.  It  was  as  if  he  were  a  champion 
defending  defeat,  for  the  people  were  weary  un- 
to sickness  of  heart  of  the  long  war,  the  burden- 
some taxes,  and  the  exacting  demands  for  more 
men  and  more  money.  What  was  called  the 
"conscription,"  the  Draft  Act,  was  taking  men 
and  making  soldiers  of  them,  whether  they  would 
or  not,  and  there  had  been  not  only  grumblings, 
but  terribly  bloody  riots  in  opposition.  There 
had  been  great  victories,  truly,  during  the  sum- 
mer, but  these  were  as  yet  credited  to  the  ac- 
count of  the  generals  and  the  army.  The  Repub- 
lican party  was  declared  to  have  no  part  in 
them. 

During  six  successive  weeks  Mr.  Depew  ad- 
dressed large  gatherings  of  the  people,  at  prom- 


168  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

inent  points  throughout  the  State.  He  spoke 
every  day,  and  often  twice  in  a  day,  with  mar- 
vellous power  and  effect.  The  result  was  phe- 
nomenal. He  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  thirty 
thousand,  running  far  ahead  of  his  ticket,  and 
the  cloud  of  popular  disaffection  seemed  to  have 
rolled  away.  The  next  year,  in  the  campaign 
for  the  re-election  of  President  Lincoln  he  took 
an  active  part,  but  there  was  no  need  for  another 
such  exhibition  of  extraordinary  powers  of  phy- 
sical endurance. 

With  the  death  of  the  great  President,  in  the 
spring  of  1865,  and  the  accession  of  Andrew 
Johnson,  a  change  took  place  in  the  relations  of 
many  men  to  national  politics,  and  Mr.  Depew 
was  among  them.  There  was  an  appearance  of 
political  chaos,  of  which  no  man  could  foresee 
the  outcome,  the  future  condition,  and  he  will- 
ingly turned  his  attention  once  more  to  the  ex- 
clusive practice  of  his  profession. 

But  for  the  rapidly  changing  relations  between 
President  Johnson  and  the  leaders  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  Mr.  Depew  would  have  been  Col- 
lector of  the  Port  of  New  York.  One  Sunday 
morning  President  Johnson  sent  for  the  two 
Senators  from  New  York,  Ira  Harris  and  Edwin 
D.  Morgan,  and  for  Thurlow  Weed  and  Henry 
J.  Raymond.  It  was  at  a  turning-point  in  Amer- 
ican political  history.  During  the  conference 
the  President  said  :  "  I  have  appointed  Chauncey 
M.  Depew  Collector  of  New  York/'  and  showed 
them  the  commission,  already  signed,  and  the 
message  to  the  Senate  which  was  to  accompany 


OHAUNGEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW  169 

it,  lying  on  his  table.  He  requested  Senator 
Morgan  to  call  at  the  Treasury  next  morning, 
Monday,  and  obtain  the  .completed  commission. 
The  conference  ended,  Monday  morning  came, 
but  the  message  of  appointment  was  not  sent  to 
the  Senate.  A  friend  of  the  President  had 
counselled  him  that,  if  Mr.  Depew  should  be 
made  Collector,  and  if  then  the  veto  of  the  Civil 
Rights  Bill  should  be  overridden  in  the  Senate, 
the  administration  would  be  left  without  follow- 
ing or  power  in  New  York.  The  commission 
was  therefore  held  until  Wednesday  and  was 
then  cancelled,  because  Senators  Morgan  and 
Harris  had  firmly  sustained  the  bill  and  carried 
it  over  the  Presidential  veto.  An  appointment  as 
Minister  to  Japan  was  actually  given  Mr.  Depew, 
and  there  were  strong  reasons  in  favor  of  its 
acceptance,  but,  after  thoughtful  consideration, 
he  returned  the  tempting  commission.  He  al- 
ready had  received  suggestions  of  important 
affairs  soon  to  be  placed  in  his  hands,  but  could 
hardly  have  imagined  the  breadth  or  fruitfulness 
of  his  new  field  of  labor.  Here  ended,  however, 
for  a  time,  his  activities  as  a  political  party 
leader.  Not  at  any  time,  nevertheless,  has  he 
ceased  to  exemplify  his  own  strongly  expressed 
doctrine  that  public  affairs  have  a  first  claim  upon 
the  thoughtful  care  of  every  American  citizen. 
As  an  illustration,  he  even  served  one  term  as  a 
Tax  Commissioner  for  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  new  field  now  tendered  was  itself  some- 
thing that  required  a  process  of  creation.  It  was 
a  growth  as  well  as  a  construction,  and  a  number 


170  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

of  capable  men  grew  with  it.  Among  them,  from 
the  beginning,  was  Mr.  Depew.  That  really 
great  business  man,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  was 
endowed  with  rare  capacity  for  estimating  other 
men.  He  selected  with  almost  unerring  saga- 
city the  associates  who  were  to  work  with 
him  in  carrying  out  his  plans.  He  had  retained 
many  good  lawyers  before  the  year  1866,  and  he 
knew  the  value  of  every  man  among  them.  He 
was  now  about  to  enter  upon  a  long  campaign, 
of  unsurpassed  magnitude  and  consequences, 
and  he  was  carefully  choosing  his  company. 

The  practice  of  law  is  itself  a  school  for  the  con- 
tinual study  of  varied  affairs,  and  the  successful 
practitioner  must  make  himself  familiar  with  a 
wide  range  of  subjects,  of  every  kind  and  grade. 
He  can  hardly  fail  to  have  excellent  capacity  for 
business  management.  Now,  however,  there 
was  need  for  a  man  of  first-class  ability  as  a 
lawyer,  and  who  had  also  proved  himself  capable 
of  growing,  of  expanding  to  meet  the  severest 
requirements,  and  such  men  are  not  numerous. 
Versatility,  readiness,  endurance  were  essential, 
even  more  than  deep  learning.  The  Commodore's 
previous  searches  for  the  man  he  wanted  are 
said  to  have  been  more  than  once  disappointed. 
In  1886,  however,  he  decided  that  Mr.  Depew 
was  the  right  man  to  appoint  as  attorney  for  the 
New  York  &  Harlem  Railroad  Company.  He 
was  himself  its  president — that  is,  its  dictator — 
and  it  Avas  to  be  the  entering  wedge  for  his  vast 
plan  of  railway  combination. 

Two  years  which  followed  might,  perhaps,  be 


GHAUNOEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW  171 

described  as  a  kind  of  trial  trip,  for  up  to  the 
date  of  his  appointment  Mr.  Depew's  knowledge 
of  railways  and  their  working  had  been  mainly 
that  of  a  passenger.  He  was  henceforth  to  be 
in  nearly  every-day  consultation  with  a  man  who 
almost  intolerantly  expected  from  others  some- 
thing like  his  own  intimate  and  thorough  ac- 
quaintance with  mechanical  details,  construction, 
trade,  traffic,  and  transportation.  Associated  with 
them  were  experts  in  every  department,  men  of 
lifelong  training,  but  not  one  of  them  knew  more 
than  was  necessary  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
the  Commodore.  They  would,  however,  have 
been  quick  to  discover  any  defect  in  the  mental 
equipment  of  the  counsel  selected  by  their  ar- 
bitrary chief.  If  they  found  any,  both  he  and 
they  were  also  compelled  to  take  note  of  the 
plain,  common-sense  boundary  line  established 
by  Mr.  Depew,  beyond  which  merely  technical 
acquirements  were  not  to  be  expected  of  him. 

The  railways  already  connecting  New  York 
City  with  the  great  lakes  and  the  commerce 
of  the  West  had  been  built  piecemeal.  Those 
within  the  State  and  in  relation  with  the  Hudson 
River  and  the  Erie  Canal  numbered  nearly  a 
dozen  distinct  corporations.  Seven  of  these  had 
united  to  form  the  New  York  Central  Railroad 
Company,  to  the  great  advantage  of  all  con- 
cerned. The  Commodore  had  planned  a  union 
of  this  and  the  river  lines,  in  a  combination  which 
should  then  reach  its  long  arm  and  grasping 
hand  half-way  across  the  continent.  His  next 
advance,  in  1869,  required  a  watchful  counsellor, 


172  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

for  it  made  one  concern  of  the  river  roads  and 
the  central  line,  under  the  name  of  the  New 
York  Central  &  Hudson  River  Railroad  Com- 
pany. The  opposition,  in  every  form  and  method, 
was  of  the  most  strenuous  description,  and  the 
criticism  passed  upon  Mr.  Depew's  management 
of  his  own  share  in  the  campaign  was  his  ap- 
pointment as  attorney  for  the  new  organization. 

With  the  achievement  of  his  primary  success, 
new  questions  arose  and  numberless  difficulties 
presented  themselves.  Every  mile  of  track  was  ex- 
amined and  was  declared  defective.  The  bridges, 
depots,  engines,  cars,  repair-shops,  the  system  of 
employment,  all  were  inspected,  reformed,  or 
rather  renewed  and  increased.  Actual  recon- 
struction work  did  not  come  to  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Depew,  but  there  were  endless  questions  of  law 
involved,  and  he  was  under  the  necessity  of 
being  prepared  upon  every  point  to  encounter 
able,  adverse  counsel  in  any  court,  State  or 
national.  That  he  might  do  so  successfully  de- 
manded of  him  a  kind  of  general  knowledge  of 
railway  business,  which  began  with  a  rail-spike 
or  a  passenger's  grip-sack  and  ended  before  the 
Supreme  Court.  It  was  to  be  acquired,  from 
hour  to  hour,  amid  all  the  confusion  and  press- 
ure of  a  movement  which  shortly  crossed  the 
western  boundary  of  the  State  and  set  out  for 
Chicago. 

The  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern,  the 
Michigan  Central,  and  other  roads  soon  belonged 
to  the  new  system,  under  one  central  manage- 
ment. With  them  came  vast  questions  related 


CHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW  173 

to  railway  and  lake  transportation,  permanently 
affecting  the  national  welfare.  Some  of  them 
were  also  international,  for  the  lines  of  transit 
were,  for  long  reaches,  as  if  they  were  the 
American  frontier,  while  at  some  points  the 
Canadian  border  seemed  to  have  been  carried 
away  by  rail. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  one  of  Mr.  Depew's 
distinguishing  characteristics,  always  in  opera- 
tion, began  to  be  better  discerned  and  appre- 
ciated. The  new  combination  necessarily  con- 
tained within  itself  many  interests,  individual  or 
corporate.  It  also  came  into  contact,  which 
might  easily  be  also  collision,  with  a  large  num- 
ber of  local  interests,  municipal  or  otherwise, 
chartered  or  unchartered.  Other  lines  of  east 
and  west  railway  were  offering  competition, 
sometimes  wholesome,  sometimes  profitless  or 
absolutely  pernicious.  With  reference  to  all 
these  it  was  discovered  that  the  right  man  held 
in  his  own  hands,  by  appointment,  what  may  be 
described  as  the  diplomacy  of  justice,  cordially 
exercised,  and  with  it  the  peculiar  faculty  for 
adjustment,  which  aided  so  many  strong  and 
positive-tempered  men  to  pull  well  together.  It 
was  distinctly  an  administrative  faculty,  and  it 
grew  to  ripeness  in  a  school  of  its  perpetual  ex- 
ercise, as  Mr.  Depew  became  counsel  of  road 
after  road,  and  met,  upon  occasion  after  occasion, 
the  captious  representatives  of  many  and  divers 
interests. 

With  many  other  sagacious  leaders  of  his 
party,  Mr.  Depew  had  disapproved  of  several 


174  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

features  of  its  management  in  1865-6.  How 
sharp  had  been  his  disapproval  was  not  generally 
understood.  Few  men  will  now,  however,  deny 
the  justice  of  the  criticisms  to  which  the  party 
subjected  itself  in  the  heat  of  the  Johnson  im- 
peachment controversy.  Nevertheless,  there 
could  be  no  better  proof  of  the  completeness  with 
which  the  absorbing  duties  of  a  railway  business 
man  had  withdrawn  him  from  a  study  of  party 
affairs  than  he  gave  in  1872.  He  permitted  him- 
self to  be  apparently  drawn  into  the  curiously 
futile  "  Independent  party "  Democratic  nom- 
ination of  Horace  Greeley  for  President,  and 
allowed  his  name  to  be  used  as  a  candidate  for 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  New  York.  It  was  the 
most  unbusinesslike  political  enterprise  in  the 
history  of  American  politics.  It  had  neither 
sufficient  capital,  proper  organization,  cashier, 
chief  clerk,  nor  managing  partner.  It  was  well 
enough  advertised,  but  it  failed,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  all  its  membership  returned  to  any 
other  occupation  they  might  have.  It  is  strictly 
correct  to  say  that  in  his  relations  to  this  brief 
episode  Mr.  Depew  did  not  really  re-enter  poli- 
tics. It  is  needless  to  speculate  upon  any  results 
of  an  impossible  success,  placing  in  office  men 
who  had  no  permanent  party  behind  them  and 
would  have  been  compelled  to  make  one.  There 
were  other  and  seemingly  better  uses  which 
came  to  him  as  if  he  were  a  magnet  that  attracted 
them.  In  1874  he  was  made  a  regent  of  the 
University  of  New  York,  and  his  deep  interest 
in  educational  development  was  manifested  by 


CHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW  175 

the  fidelity  and  ability  with  which  he  attended 
to  the  duties  of  that  position.  He  was  also,  for 
a  time,  a  member  of  the  commission  in  charge  of 
the  new  State  capitol  building  at  Albany,  but 
personal  supervision,  so  much  needed,  was 
simply  impossible  to  a  man  already  so  fully 
occupied. 

Railways  came  into  the  Vanderbilt  combina- 
tion fast  enough,  as  the  positive  benefits  of  its 
system  extended  through  the  West  and  North- 
west, while  it  joined,  almost  to  unifications,  with 
lines  that  reached  onward  to  the  Pacific. 

With  all,  and  from  the  beginning,  came  yet 
another  subject  which  cannot  henceforth  be 
ignored  by  any  American  man  of  business.  It 
may  be  imperfectly  described  as  the  labor  and 
employment  question.  Great  railways  are  also 
great  manufacturers.  Besides  their  train-hands 
and  freight-passers  ot  all  sorts,  they  employ  me- 
chanics of  many  grades  and  of  widely  varied 
specialties.  Success  in  management,  therefore, 
requires  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  inter- 
ests and  even  the  opinions  of  the  workmen.  This 
also  involves  a  study  and  comprehension  of  deep- 
lying  social  problems,  some  of  which  have  been 
imported  with  the  constantly  increasing  Euro- 
pean labor  element,  with  its  rooted  prejudices 
and  its  dense  ignorance.  Here,  therefore,  was 
and  is  a  peculiar  field  of  administration  for  a 
genius  of  justice  in  adjustment.  It  was  after 
a  while  to  be  given  to  Mr.  Depew  in  a  much 
greater  fulness. 

During  all  these  years  he  was  steadily  increas- 


176  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

ing,  in  case  alter  case,  his  already  high  reputa- 
tion as  a  lawyer,  but  his  triumphs  before  the 
courts  could  have  been  won,  perhaps,  by  learned 
jurists  altogether  incompetent  to  deal  with  a 
sliding  scale  of  multiform  rights,  demands,  or 
even  possible  delusions.  The  politics  of  the  pres- 
ent and,  much  more,  the  future,  begin  to  assume 
new  shapes  at  about  this  line.  The  entire  labor 
element  of  the  United  States  is  cut  up  into  par- 
ties, organized  and  unorganized,  of  which  all 
railway  managers  are  necessarily  members,  how- 
ever they  may  seem  to  be  in  opposition.  The 
brake  belongs  to  the  train  which  it  pulls  up  at  the 
station. 

Another  side  of  Mr.  Depew's  versatile  capacity 
had  not  by  any  means  been  permitted  to  rust. 
From  his  boyhood  he  had  exhibited  social  facul- 
ties of  a  high  order.  It  was  not  merely  that  he 
could  make  an  unsurpassed  address  or  after-din- 
ner speech.  It  was  that  at  all  times  and  places 
he  had  perfected  a  natural  power  for  so  meeting 
men  and  women  that  they  went  away  from  him 
with  a  pleased,  if  not  a  grateful,  sensation  of  hav- 
ing been  made  to  feel  so  entirely  at  ease  concern- 
ing themselves.  It  is  a  process  which  the  most 
skilful  flatterer  cannot  perform,  for  the  secret 
of  it  is  its  genuine  good-will,  its  kindly  regard 
for  the  feelings  of  others.  Customers  will  flock 
to  the  store  of  any  man  who  is  known  to  distin- 
guish himself  in  this  manner,  and  it  is  an  exceed- 
ingly valuable  addition  to  the  equipment  of  any 
man  in  any  business. 

The  nature  of  Mr.  Depew's  criticisms  upon  the 


CHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW  177 

management  of  his  own  party,  no  less  than  his 
personal  popularity,  pointed  him  out  as  the 
most  available  candidate  for  one  of  the  United 
States  Senatorships  made  vacant,  in  1881,  by  the 
resignations  of  Senators  Roscoe  Conkling  and 
Thomas  C.  Platt.  During  the  long,  hotly  con- 
tested struggle  which  followed  in  the  State  Leg- 
islature, in  joint  sessions  of  Senate  and  House, 
Mr.  Depew  steadily  gained  votes  until,  on  one 
ballot,  he  required  but  ten  more  for  an  election. 
Such  might  indeed  have  been  the  result  but  for 
a  blow  which  fell  upon  the  party  and  the  nation 
like  a  stroke  of  lightning.  More  and  more  bitter 
had  grown  the  animosities  of  the  contending  fac- 
tions on  the  Republican  side  of  the  contest  at 
Albany,  while  the  Democrats,  a  numerical  mi- 
nority, stood  firmly  by  their  own  candidates,  Fran- 
cis  C.  Kiernan  and  John  C.  Jacobs.  Into  the 
strife  and  turmoil  came  flashing,  on  the  2nd  of 
July,  a  telegraphic  announcement  of  the  assas- 
sination of  President  Garfield  by  Guiteau.  In  an 
instant  all  was  quiet.  It  was  a  time  for  all  men 
to  turn  toward  peace  and  unity.  Mr.  Depew 
withdrew  his  name  ;  a  party  caucus  was  held ; 
Hon.  Warner  Miller  was  nominated  and  a  few 
days  later  he  was  elected.  So  terminated  a  strug- 
gle which  had  lasted  during  eighty-two  days. 

It  was  notable,  during  this  memorable  episode, 
how  often  an  attempt  was  made  to  employ 
against  Mr.  Depew  the  fact  that  he  was  a  rail- 
way man,  in  alliance  with  the  great  capitalists  of 
the  country,  and  how  uniformly  the  reply  was 
made  in  substance  :  "  He  is  so,  and  he  is  the 
12 


178  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

one  man  in  the  United  States  against  whom  the 
workingmen  will  not  raise  that  as  an  objection. 
They  would  regard  him  as  their  own  represen- 
tative in  the  Senate." 

Long  before  the  death  of  Commodore  Vander- 
bilt,  which  took  place  in  1877,  his  son,  William 
H.  Vanderbilt,  nominally  as  vice-president,  had 
been  the  dictator  of  the  New  York  Central  & 
Hudson  River  Railroad  Company  with  its  imme- 
diate connections.  On  the  death  of  his  father 
he  became  president,  Mr.  Depew  retaining  his 
old  position,  holding  also  a  directorship  in  that 
and  several  other  railway  corporations.  In 
1882  Mr.  William  H.  Vanderbilt  resigned  and 
Mr.  James  H.  Rutter  became  president,  Mr. 
Depew  taking  the  post  of  second  vice-president. 
In  1885  Mr.  Rutter  died,  and  Mr.  Depew  was  at 
once  chosen  in  his  place. 

Perhaps  it  was  worthy  of  notice  that  so  im- 
portant a  fact  was  accepted  by  the  Stock  Ex- 
change and  the  business  world  as  a  foregone 
conclusion.  There  was  hardly  a  ripple,  so  well 
was  it  understood  that  there  would  be  no  jar  in 
the  financial  running  of  the  greatest  railway  in- 
terest on  earth.  It  was  safe  in  the  hands  of 
trained  experts,  with  a  head  whose  qualifications 
were  not  only  known  to  them,  leading  to  his 
selection  by  them,  but  also  well  known  and  ap- 
proved by  other  men. 

About  a  year  earlier,  in  1884,  a  Republican 
Legislature  had  been  called  upon  to  choose  a 
United  States  Senator.  Prior  to  holding  a  for. 
mal  caucus,  Mr.  Depew's  acknowledged  relations 


CHAUNOEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW  179 

to  the  party  in  his  own  State  were  indicated  by 
a  sufficiently  definite  offer  of  the  nomination, 
equivalent  to  an  election.  In  view  of  his  other 
duties  and  obligations  he  refused  to  be  a  candi- 
date and  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts  was  chosen 
instead. 

Year  after  year  has  gone  by  since  then,  with  a 
manifest  solidification,  so  to  speak,  of  the  position 
so  steadily  grown  into  through  the  exercise  of 
business  qualities  which  have  hardly  been  sub- 
jected to  criticism.  The  vast  machinery  of  the 
railway  management  works  with  wonderful  ease, 
in  admirable  adjustment.  The  exceedingly  great 
ability  of  the  membership  of  its  central  man- 
agement may  well  be  accepted  as  offering  the 
strongest  possible  tribute  to  the  special  capacity 
of  the  man  they  have  placed  at  the  head  of 
their  corporation.  The  outside  community  may 
accept  their  reiterated  verdict. 

Nevertheless,  other  declarations  of  confidence 
have  been  made.  In  the  Republican  National 
Convention,  held  at  Chicago  in  1888,  Mr.  Depew 
received  the  solid  vote  of  New  York,  seventy 
votes,  as  the  party  nominee  for  President,  his 
total  vote  being  ninety-nine.  Very  rarely  has 
the  Empire  State  delegation  been  a  unit  in  favor 
of  a  Presidential  candidate.  During  the  prepa- 
rations for  the  Republican  National  Convention 
of  1892,  at  Chicago,  there  seemed  to  be  but  one 
important  element  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  result 
of  its  deliberations.  Almost  at  the  last  moment 
this  was  increased  by  the  unexpected  resignation, 
by  the  veteran  statesman,  the  old-time  leader  of 


180  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

the  party,  James  G.  Elaine,  of  the  portfolio  of  Sec- 
retary of  State  in  President  Harrison's  Cabinet. 
Mr.  Depew  had  intended  taking  an  active  part 
in  the  coming-  canvass  and  was  acting  as  leader 
of  the  New  York  delegation  at  Chicago.  He 
had  entertained  no  thought  of  public  office  up 
to  the  moment  when  he  was  offered  by  the  Presi- 
dent the  high  honor  of  the  first  place  in  the  Cab- 
inet vacated  by  Mr.  Elaine.  It  could  not  be  put 
away  hastily,  nor  accepted  at  all  without  possi- 
ble injustice  to  existing  claims  upon  his  services. 
A  few  days,  not  more  than  a  week,  however, 
sufficed  for  consideration,  and  the  brilliant  offer 
was  declined.  The  general  public  and  the  press 
were  not  taken  into  consultation,  but  the  fact  of 
the  offer  and  refusal  requires  record.  It  is  one 
more  proof  of  the  growth  and  strength  of  char- 
acter-forces greater  than  any  mere  personal  am- 
bition. In  the  convention,  by  ballot  and  other- 
wise, and  in  many  responsive  utterances  all  over 
the  country,  Mr.  Depew  was  indicated  as  being 
himself  an  exceedingly  probable  candidate  for 
the  Presidential  nomination. 

During  the  Presidential  canvass  he  heartily  sus- 
tained the  renomination  of  President  Harrison. 

There  is  little  to  be  gained  by  attempts  to 
analyze  more  closely  a  business  success  and 
a  personal  popularity  obtained  so  very  direct- 
ly through  means  so  commonly  understood. 
Speeches  and  addresses  almost  numberless 
have  given  Mr.  Depew  his  foremost  place  as 
an  orator.  Endless  papers  and  printed  letters 
of  all  sorts  have  established  another  kind  of  rep- 


GHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW  181 

utation.  His  powerful  influence  has  been  given 
with  all  vigor  against  every  form  of  vice,  disor- 
der, violence,  or  injustice.  He  has  always  been 
a  declared  enemy  of  intemperance  and  an  oppo- 
nent of  irreligion.  One  more  point  of  character 
has  gradually  made  itself  known  somewhat  to 
the  surprise  of  many  men.  It  is  that  in  all  his 
toils  and  achievements  he  has  regarded  money- 
making  as  a  secondary  consideration.  Wealth, 
but  not  excessive,  has  come  to  him  along  with 
his  successes,  and  much  of  it  has  been  expended 
liberally.  He  has,  however,  performed  all  duties 
simply  as  duties,  and  has  transacted  multiform 
business  for  its  own  sake.  Not  many  men  have 
done  more  or  harder  work  of  kinds  to  which 
no  idea  of  compensation  attached.  Even  his 
performance  of  public  duties  of  a  social  nature 
has  been  often  severely  exacting.  He  was  pres- 
ident of  the  Union  League  Club  during  seven 
years,  and  was  then  elected  an  honorary  member. 
He  was  president  of  the  Yale  Alumni  Association 
two  years.  He  is  also  president  of  the  "  Sons  of 
the  American  Revolution,"  and  has  given  the  aid 
of  his  presence  and  his  welcome  eloquence  at  an 
endless  list  of  banquets,  anniversaries,  and  other 
gatherings  of  his  fellow-citizens.  There  has,  in- 
deed, been  a  very  complete,  well-rounded  growth 
and  development  of  original  capacities,  no  mat- 
ter what  these  were,  that  could  enable  any  man 
to  perform  so  well  so  wide  a  variety  of  impor- 
tant functions.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  point 
out  another  business  success  more  universally 
acknowledged. 


IX. 
ALEXANDER  TURNEY   STEWART. 

THE  great  majority  of  men  are  born  in  a  field 
of  action  which  they  accept  as  sufficient  for 
them.  The  world  of  human  life,  however,  has 
been  advanced  from  its  old  places  to  its  new  by 
the  men  who  went  out  and  found  or  made  some- 
thing more  than,  and  differing  much  from,  the 
narrowness  in  which  they  began.  Of  both  classes 
it  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  the  success  attained 
by  each  individual  has  been  very  nearly  meas- 
ured by  his  or  her  perception  of  the  nature  and 
requirements  of  the  situation.  It  is  a  truth  which 
may  be  expressed  in  shop  terms  by  saying  that 
the  lumber-rooms  of  innumerable  failures  are 
choked  with  unsalable  stock,  of  stuff  unsuited  to 
the  possible  market  or  for  which  all  demand  had 
died  away.  On  the  other  hand,  the  list  of  success- 
es, in  almost  every  department  of  human  effort, 
presents,  in  endless  repetition,  illustrations  of  the 
genius  of  perception.  It  is  a  genius  which  never 
takes  coals  to  Newcastle,  nor  struggles  vainly 
with  the  obvious  drift  of  the  current  it  is  in.  It 
may  not  be  the  genius  of  the  explorer  or  of  the 
inventor,  but  it  is  the  absolute  need  of  the  suc- 
cessful merchant  or  shop-keeper.  No  better  ex- 
ample could  be  asked  for  than  is  supplied  by  the 


ALEXANDER  TURNEY  STEWART  183 

business  life  and  success  of  Alexander  Turney 
Stewart.  He  was  born  in  Belfast,  Ireland,  Oc- 
tober 12,  1803.  As  his  name  indicates,  he  was  of 
Scotch  descent,  and  his  family  claimed  the  right 
to  the  heraldic  "arms"  of  the  Stewarts.  His 
father,  a  farmer  in  moderate  circumstances,  pro- 
posed to  give  his  son  a  liberal  education,  with  a 
view  to  the  ministry  of  the  Church  of  England. 
The  earlier  days  of  the  future  merchant  were 
therefore  passed  among  books  and  tutors,  and 
here  educational  seed  was  sown  which  bore  much 
fruit  in  later  years. 

While  he  was  away  from  home,  at  school,  his 
father  died,  leaving  him  under  the  care  of  a 
guardian,  with  means  for  the  completion  of  the 
proposed  course  of  study.  One  thing,  however, 
speedily  became  manifest  to  the  boy  himself. 
Whatever  was  the  parental  ambition,  the  son 
had  not  been  destined  by  nature  for  the  minis- 
try. While  his  habits  and  tendencies  were  mor- 
ally correct,  he  was  eager  for  the  great  world  of 
enterprise  and  had  no  inclination  for  the  quiet 
life  of  a  clergyman.  So  he  told  his  guardian,  and 
that  gentleman  saw  good  reasons  for  agreeing 
with  him. 

No  idea  was  entertained  of  entering  the 
choked-up  channels  of  the  Old  World,  when  the 
new  was  holding  out  its  continual  invitation, 
but  it  was  upon  an  exploring  expedition,  alto- 
gether, that  young  Stewart  sailed  for  America 
in  1823.  He  was  only  twenty  years  of  age;  he 
had  as  yet  no  business  training  that  anybody 
knew  of ;  but  only  he  himself  knew  how  many 


184  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

things  related  to  trade  and  traffic  he  had  studied, 
better  than  his  books,  while  making  up  his  mind 
to  be  a  merchant. 

On  reaching  New  York,  with  no  money  to 
waste,  he  found  a  city  which  required  a  pretty 
thorough  investigation  before  determining  what 
to  do  with  it.  It  was  reached  in  the  summer, 
and  the  arrival  of  autumn  found  the  commercial 
student  acting  as  a  temporary  teacher  in  a  re- 
spectable private  school  on  Roosevelt  Street, 
near  Pearl.  It  was  of  some  importance  that  this 
was  then  a  fashionable  part  of  the  city  and  that 
hours  out  of  school  could  be  spent  in  scouting 
expeditions  through  all  the  other  streets,  to  dis- 
cover the  localities  of  business  interests  and  how 
and  where  they  were  moving. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  perceive  that  the  exten- 
sion of  retail  trade,  much  more  than  of  wholesale 
transactions,  was  already  governed  topographi- 
cally. It  would  be  more  so  in  the  future,  for  the 
long,  irregular  area  of  Manhattan  Island  was 
marked,  centrally,  by  a  street  which  was  almost 
like  a  backbone,  from  which  the  others  radiated. 
Shorter  streets,  like  Pearl  and  its  neighbors, 
away  down  the  island,  must  be  deserted  by  fash- 
ionable shoppers  in  due  season,  and  the  trade  of 
the  next  generation  would  be  done  largely  along 
Broadway.  This,  even  at  its  lower  end  and 
almost  entirely  above  the  City  Hall,  was  as  yet 
a  street  of  residences. 

Mr.  Stewart's  one  year  as  a  teacher  came  to 
an  end  and  he  returned  to  spend  his  vacation  in 
Ireland.  In  October  following  he  became  of  age 


ALEXANDER  TURNET  STEWART  .     185 

and  his  guardian  was  ready  to  transfer  to  him  all 
that  remained  of  the  inheritance.  The  amount 
was  not  large,  but  time  was  required  for  settle- 
ments and  cash  returns,  during  which  certain 
mercantile  selections  could  be  circumspectly 
made.  Much  care  had  been  given,  therefore,  to 
the  character  of  the  stock  of  Belfast  laces  and 
linens  shipped  to  New  York  by  Mr.  Stewart  in 
the  summer  of  the  year  1825.  He  was  able  to 
make  a  beginning  by  offering  goods  of  undenia- 
ble quality  and  at  unquestionably  fair  prices,  in 
marked  contrast  with  what  he  had  perceived  as 
the  most  hurtful  vice  of  the  retail  trade.  It  was 
an  imported  evil,  but  its  existence  rendered 
"  shopping  "  a  tedious  process  of  beating  down 
prices,  the  seller  asking,  habitually,  more  than 
was  expected  of  a  bargaining  customer,  and 
deeming  it  a  shop-keeper's  triumph  to  work  off 
inferior  or  out-of-date  goods.  The  contrast  so 
declared  and  maintained  was  an  important  ad- 
vertisement, although  a  host  of  lady  shoppers 
rebelled  vivaciously  against  the  iron  rule  which 
prevented  them  from  having  any  reduction  given 
them  at  Stewart's. 

The  keen  business  perception  which  led  him 
to  prepare  in  advance  for  the  character  he  in- 
tended to  establish  was  coupled  with  another 
which  drew  upon  him  caustic  criticisms  and  also 
the  attention  of  all  the  people  who  believed  his 
store  to  be  too  far  up-town,  if  not  on  the  wrong 
street.  It  was  only  a  narrow-faced  affair,  at  No. 
283  Broadway,  fronting  City  Hall  Park,  and  all 
the  dry-goods  concerns  of  any  importance  were 


186  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

far  below.  Some  of  the  largest  were  on  Cedar 
Street.  The  rent  of  the  store  was  only  $250  per 
annum,  and  in  obtaining  a  lease  Mr.  Stewart 
gave  as  his  reference  a  responsible  citizen  named 
Jacob  Clinch,  whose  friendship  he  had  acquired 
while  teaching  school.  Not  a  great  while  after- 
ward he  married  Cornelia,  the  daughter  of  his 
first  endorser. 

The  first  stock  was  valued  at  but  little  over 
three  thousand  dollars,  but  a  very  attractive 
show  was  made  with  it,  and  other  lines  of  goods 
were  added  rapidly.  A  hit  had  been  made,  and 
it  was  a  surprise  to  all  observers  that  the  young 
Scotch-Irish  adventurer's  business  grew  as  it  did. 
Of  course,  importers  and  wholesalers  were  will- 
ing to  place  fabrics  in  a  store  where  they  sold  so 
well.  On  the  other  hand,  buyers  accustomed  to 
chaffer  put  away  their  irritation  on  account  of 
Stewart's  rules  when  they  discovered  how  abso- 
lutely safe  it  was  to  deal  with  him.  He  would 
not  offer  anything  at  a  shade  above  its  intrinsic 
value  upon  the  existing  market.  At  the  same 
time,  if  the  market  itself  should  go  down,  the  price 
would  follow  it,  and  the  reverse  process  might 
promptly  be  taken  advantage  of. 

Only  one  year  passed  before  the  small  place  at 
No.  283  became  too  small.  It  had  been  only 
a  large  front  room  with  a  smaller  in  the  rear, 
where  the  proprietor  slept  at  night.  In  1826  a 
larger  store  was  secured  at  No.  262  Broadway, 
and  this  was  still  "  away  up-town." 

From  this  time  onward  the  career  of  Mr. 
Stewart  was  simply  that  of  an  admirable  sales- 


ALEXANDER   TURNET  STEWART  187 

man,  instructing  and  employing  other  salesmen 
as  he  could  obtain  the  right  sort  of  young  men. 
His  unsurpassed  faculty  in  this  direction  paral- 
leled his  apparently  prophetic  forecast  of  the 
probable  demands  of  purchasers.  As  time  went 
on  he  added  a  rare  capacity  for  creating  or  di- 
recting the  very  demand  which  he  proposed  to 
supply,  and  he  did  not  always  permit  other  deal- 
ers to  avail  themselves  of  a  knowledge  of  his 
plans  or  expectations. 

The  retail  business  widened  until  wholesaling 
came  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  as  enhancing 
rather  than  diminishing  the  importance  of  the 
retail  department.  During  a  prolonged  period, 
in  which  the  tendency  of  all  business  was  to  form 
specialties,  Mr.  Stewart's  house  was  pointed  at 
as  the  marked  exception,  for  it  offered,  wholesale 
and  retail,  whatever  could  be  worn  upon  the  per- 
son or  used  in  dress,  excepting  the  ready-made 
clothing  of  men.  An  incongruous  article  or  per- 
son would  at  once  have  disappeared  after  his 
keen  eye  had  fallen  upon  it.  Nothing  could 
escape  his  searching  inspection,  as  he  quietly 
strolled  hither  and  thither,  now  and  then  paus- 
ing to  give  a  low-voiced  bit  of  direction,  eco- 
nomical in  words  and  sure  of  implicit  obedience. 
The  past,  present,  and  future  of  his  stock  in  trade 
walked  around  with  him,  and  his  knowledge  of 
details  was  something  extraordinary. 

At  an  early  day — for  he  had  begun  by  import- 
ing his  own  goods — Mr.  Stewart  became  a  heavy 
importer,  having  direct  relations  with  important 
concerns  in  various  parts  of  the  world ;  but  this 


188  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

did  not  satisfy  him,  for  even  the  manufacturers 
who  supplied  the  importers  did  not  always  pro- 
vide the  precise  articles  his  own  judgment  indi- 
cated. He  became,  therefore,  a  manufacturer  on 
his  own  account,  and  could  place  upon  the  New 
York  market  unique  lines  of  fabrics  which  could 
not  be  duplicated  by  any  other  house. 

There  was  something  like  an  aim  at  monopoly 
in  this,  as  well  as  in  other  features  of  Mr.  Stew- 
art's policy,  but  the  real  animus  was  rivalry  rather 
than  monopoly.  This  was  repeatedly  manifested 
in  his  sharp  collisions  with  competing  houses,  for 
some  of  these  battles  were  exceedingly  costly 
and  without  much  prospect  of  other  reward 
than  barren  victory.  This,  too,  was  not  always 
won,  for  there  were  many  daring  and  capable 
merchants  among  his  competitors. 

Mr.  Stewart's  accrued  profits  from  year  to  year 
now  amounted  to  large  sums,  and  once  more  he 
proved  the  accuracy  of  his  judgment  concerning 
the  development  of  the  city.  No  other  man  ever 
bought  so  many  old  churches,  as  their  congre- 
gations parted  with  them  to  build  new  ones  "  up- 
town." No  other  man  in  America  ever  owned 
so  many  hotels  at  the  same  time,  and  his  were 
not  only  in  New  York  City,  but  at  Saratoga  and 
elsewhere.  His  general  purchases  of  real  estate 
were  large,  but  the  most  important  of  all  were 
made  with  direct  reference  to  the  future  of  his 
own  business.  The  first  notable  result  came  in 
1848.  Piece  after  piece,  year  after  year,  Mr. 
Stewart  quietly  bought  the  entire  front  on  Broad- 
way, between  Chambers  and  Reade  Streets.  Ad- 


ALEXANDER  TURNEY  STEWART 


189 


joining1  property  on  those  streets  was  also  ab- 
sorbed until  the  holders  took  warning  and  put 
up  their  prices  to  exorbitant  figures.  He  had 
enough,  however,  and  on  the  land  acquired  he 
built  the  huge  marble  structure  now  standing 
there.  At  first  it  was  sufficient  for  his  entire 


The  Wholesale  Store  of  A.  T.  Stewart  &  Co.,  built  in    1848. 

business,  but  afterward  was  surrendered  to  the 
wholesale  department.  It  is  now  an  "office 
building." 

O 

Hardly  had  the  new  dry-goods  palace  been  oc- 
cupied, in  1848,  before  Mr.  Stewart  himself  de- 
clared that  it  was  a  mistake.  It  would  answer 
for  a  while,  but  it  was  too  far  down  town.  It 
did  indeed  "  answer,"  and  year  after  year  it  was 


190  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

a  terminus  or  objective  point  to  be  reached  by 
fashionable  and  unfashionable  shoppers,  but  the 
pilgrimages  required  to  reach  it  grew  longer  and 
longer,  as  its  builder  had  foreseen,  and  its  useful- 
ness as  a  "  five-story  salesroom  "  passed  away. 

It  was  while  this  structure  was  in  progress,  in 
1846,  that  the  famine  in  Ireland  appealed  to  the 
charities  of  Americans.  Mr.  Stewart  sent  over 
a  ship-load  of  provisions,  instructing  his  agents 
to  return  with  a  ship-load  of  immigrants.  They 
were  to  select  respectable  persons,  able  to  read 
and  write,  and  to  give  them  free  transportation 
to  America.  The  somewhat  hard  and  calculating 
spirit  of  the  successful  merchant  showed  itself, 
even  in  the  charity.  He  would  have  preferred 
that  the  entire  European  immigration  to  Amer- 
ica should  be  selected  upon  principles  parallel 
with  those  which  governed  his  own  offerings  of 
fabrics. 

In  a  similarly  kindly  spirit,  and  without  re- 
serve, he  sent  a  ship-load  of  flour  to  France,  after 
the  disastrous  war  with  Germany. 

Another  liberality  brought  to  public  notice  Mr. 
Stewart's  strong  personal  objection  to  having 
his  portrait  taken.  Prince  Bismarck  sent  his 
own  photograph  to  the  American  merchant- 
prince,  requesting  an  exchange,  but  received  in- 
stead a  check  for  fifty  thousand  francs  for  the 
sufferers  by  recent  floods  in  Silesia,  and  the  in- 
formation that  Mr.  Stewart  had  invariably  re- 
fused to  sit  before  a  camera. 

Among  financiers,  bankers,  and  merchants  of 
every  name  his  credit  stood  deservedly  high 


ALEXANDER   TURNEY  STEWART  191 

from  the  very  beginning.  One  peculiar  element 
of  this  strength  was  the  fact  that  his  losses,  how- 
ever severe,  never  seemed  in  any  manner  to  dis- 
turb the  steady,  almost  icy  serenity  of  his  busi- 
ness manner.  Such  losses  did  come  at  times, 
for  his  long  experience  of  financial  vicissitudes 
included  the  panics  of  1837,  1857,  and  the  lesser 
disturbances  intervening.  If  others  as  sweeping 
were  yet  to  come,  men  reasoned  that  his  affairs 
would  be  found  in  a  state  of  prophetic  prepara- 
tion. 

Related  to  Mr.  Stewart's  real  estate  investments 
was  the  warm  interest  which  he  took  in  all  mat- 
ters relating  to  the  permanent  improvement  of 
the  city:  the  widening  of  old  streets  and  the 
opening  of  new  thoroughfares  and  the  like.  At 
the  same  time  he  refused  to  take  any  active  part 
in  municipal  politics,  other  than  as  the  quiet  but 
unflinching  enemy  of  every  form  of  corrupt  ad- 
ministration. During  the  domination  of  what 
was  called  the  "  Tweed  Ring,"  for  instance,  he 
was  approached  with  an  assurance  that  an  or- 
dinance widening  Laurens  Street  to  its  present 
condition  as  South  Fifth  Avenue  could  be  ob- 
tained from  the  Board  of  Aldermen  for  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  It  would  have  greatly  bene- 
fited a  mass  of  property  owned  by  him,  but 
he  replied :  "  No ;  but  I  will  give  fifty  thousand 
this  minute  to  know  the  names  of  the  alder- 
men who  expect  to  get  the  money."  The  ring 
went  down  in  due  season,  and  he  was  one  of 
the  public-spirited  citizens  who  helped  pull  it 
down. 


192  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

There  were  good  years  and  bad  years,  and  the 
retail  dry-goods  trade,  as  he  had  foreseen,  was 
drifting  northward.  He  was  therefore  prepar- 
ing to  go  with  it  and  was  buying  a  new  place  for 
business.  It  was  the  entire  block  bounded  by 
Broadway  and  Fourth  Avenue,  between  Ninth 
and  Tenth  Streets.  He  succeeded  in  absorbing, 
at  liberal  prices,  all  other  titles,  and  then  he  built 
upon  it  what  was  then  said  to  be  the  largest  dry- 
goods  establishment  in  the  world.  It  was  for  his 
retail  trade  only,  the  wholesale  department  re- 
maining at  Broadway  and  Chambers  Street.  It 
cost,  when  completed,  in  1862,  nearly  two  and 
three-quarters  millions  of  dollars  and  was  admir- 
ably complete  in  all  its  architectural  plan  and  ar- 
rangements. Nearly  two  thousand  persons  found 
employment  in  it,  and  it  was  at  once  a  daily  hive 
of  eager  purchasers,  but  it  was  hardly  opened  for 
business  before  its  builder  once  more  declared  that 
he  had  made  a  mistake.  The  city  had  moved 
northward  while  he  was  buying  the  lots  and 
putting  up  the  walls.  He  should  have  stepped 
on  in  advance,  he  said,  and  taken  his  new  position 
further  up  the  island.  That  was  a  glance  into 
the  future,  however,  since  all  buyers  of  the  pres- 
ent took  another  view  of  the  matter,  and  his  trade 
increased  enormously.  The  year  before  the  new 
structure  was  completed,  the  war  panic  came. 
Some  of  his  strongest  rivals  succumbed  to  it,  at 
least  temporarily,  but  A.  T.  Stewart  &  Co.  held 
their  own  firmly,  in  spite  of  enormous  losses  at 
the  North  and  West.  The  entire  mass  of  their 
extended  Southern  business,  with  its  credits,  dis- 


ALEXANDER  TURNET  STEWART  193 

appeared  as  if  in  a  fire,  but  somehow  or  other 
there  had  been  a  previous  contraction  and  prepa- 
ration which  avoided  destructive  consequences 
to  the  main  business.  This,  too,  was  greatly  ex- 
panded during  the  "  flush  times  "  caused  by  war 
expenditures  and  the  flood  of  paper  money,  but 
Mr.  Stewart  was  one  of  the  first  to  see  and  to 
declare  in  advance  the  inevitable  perils  which 
would  attend  the  restoration  of  business  and 
finance  to  a  healthful  peace  basis.  So  distinctly 
had  he  set  forth  his  views  and  so  deep  an  impres- 
sion had  they  made  upon  the  minds  of  a  number 
of  capable  men,  that  when  General  Grant  became 
President,  in  1869,  he  at  once  offered  Mr.  Stew- 
art the  position  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
The  offer  was  eagerly  accepted,  in  a  patriotic 
readiness  to  do  whatever  could  be  done  toward 
avoiding  or  diminishing  the  evils  so  plainly  fore- 
seen. But  for  one  barrier  the  Senate  would 
have  consented  at  once,  for  the  whole  country 
approved  the  nomination.  The  law,  however, 
excluded  from  holding  the  Treasury  portfolio 
any  citizen  interested  in  importations,  and  he 
was  ineligible.  The  President  asked  the  Senate 
to  amend  or  repeal  the  law,  and  Mr.  Stewart 
offered  to  not  only  transfer  his  business  to  trus- 
tees, but  to  devote  his  entire  proceeds  from  it  to 
public  charities  during  his  term  of  office.  The 
Senate  could  not  consistently  change  the  law  for 
a  personal  reason,  and  counsellors  declared  the 
other  proposal  inadequate.  It  may  be  that 
neither  Mr.  Stewart  nor  any  other  man  could 
have  accomplished  what  he  hoped  and  desired, 
13 


194 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


but,  four  years  later,  after  a  continual  tightening 
of  finances  and  an  endurance  of  "  hard  times,"  the 
predicted  crash  came,  and  the  panic  of  Black 
Friday  brought  the  business  world  down  ruin- 
ously to  its  new  level.  The  house  of  A.  T. 
Stewart  &  Co.  was  not  in  the  list  of  those  that 
stopped  payment. 

In  1867  Mr.  Stewart's  peculiar  personal  posi- 
tion had  been  recognized  by  his  appointment 
as  chairman  of  the  United  States  Government 
Commissioners  to  the  Paris  Exposition.  It  was 
generally  accepted  as  an  eminently  fit  appoint- 
ment, even  by  the  large  class  of  men  with  whom 
he  had  failed  to  find  what  is  called  popularity. 
That  was  a  thing  which  he  had  no  perceptible 
desire  for.  He  made  no  effort  whatever  to  ob- 
tain it,  not  even 
when,  in  1871,  he 
sent  fifty  thousand 
dollars  to  the  suf- 
ferers by  the  Chi- 
cago fire.  He  was 
roundly  abused  for 
not  sending  more, 
and  was  under- 
stood to  have  quiet- 
ly replied  that  no 
more  was  really 
needed,  for  the  fire 

was  a  good  thing  and  the  city  would  be  rebuilt 
better  than  ever. 

Mr.  Stewart's  own  residence,  at  Fifth  Avenue 
and  Thirty-fourth  Street,  was   the  most  costly 


Mr.  Stewart's  House,  Thirty-fourth  Street  and 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York, 


ALEXANDER  TURNEY  STEWART  195 

dwelling-  in  the  country  at  the  date  of  its  com- 
pletion. It  was  indeed  a  palace,  and  its  interior 
was  as  one  gallery  of  works  of  art,  in  painting, 
sculpture,  and  artistic  upholstery.  Hardly  less 
expensive,  however,  was  the  Hotel  for  Women 
which  he  built  at  Fourth  Avenue  and  Thirty- 
second  Street,  but  both  were  in  a  manner  fail- 
ures. The  Stewart  palace  ceased  to  be  a  dwell- 
ing, and  the  other  great  building  not  answering 
an  existing  demand,  became  a  hotel  for  both  sexes. 
Business  success  increased  in  all  directions 
up  to  the  very  end,  and  minor  errors  or  losses 
were  of  no  consequence.  A  very  remarkable  re- 
sult came  out  of  one  of  the  many  plans  for  im- 
provement which  came  to  the  mind  of  the  great 
employer.  Out  upon  Long  Island,  at  no  great 
distance,  lay  the  wide  reach  of  semi-desert  known 
as  Hempstead  Plains.  Useless  for  farming  pur- 
poses, it  was  "commons,"  and  the  town  of  Hemp- 
stead,  owning  it  from  old  colonial  days,  could 
give  a  valid  title.  After  protracted  negotiations 
this  was  obtained,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the 
sleepy  old  village,  and  Mr.  Stewart  went  ahead 
with  his  plan.  He  proposed  to  change  the 
gravelly  waste  into  the  site  of  a  town  of  resi- 
dences for  his  own  and  other  New  York  workers 
and  called  it  Garden  City.  Large  amounts  of 
money  were  expended.  School  and  other  build- 
ings were  erected.  It  was  soon  seen  that  some 
other  kind  of  success  might  come,  but  not  the 
accomplishment  of  the  original  purpose,  for  this 
costly  gathering  of  villas  was  no  place  for  wage- 
earners. 


196  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Another  change  came  first.  On  the  loth  of 
April,  1876,  Mr.  Stewart  closed  his  long  and 
busy  career  and  his  vast  affairs  passed  into  the 
hands  of  his  partners  and  associates  with  hardly 
a  disturbance  in  the  steady  movement  of  the 
business  machine  which  owed  its  existence  to  his 
brain  and  hand.  His  wife  proceeded  with  the 
plan  for  Garden  City.  In  the  centre  of  it  she 
erected  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Cathedral 
Church  of  the  Incarnation.  It  is  archi- 
te.cturally  one  of  the  most  perfect  speci- 
mens of  the  Gothic  style  in  this 
country,  and  its  tall  spire  is 
visible  for  many  miles 
across  the  plain.  It  is 
the  monument  of 
Mr.  Stewart,  for  his 
tomb  is  under  it. 
It  will  endure,  no 
man  may  say  how 
long,  but  so  will  the 
deep  mark  left 
upon  the  methods  .  r.  .  r  .  r.. 

Memorial   Church  at  Garden  City. 

and    principles    of 

the  entire  retail  trade  of  this  country  by  the 
man  who  absolutely  compelled  buyers  to  trust 
in  the  honesty  of  his  goods  and  the  justice  of 
his  prices.  So  they  grumbled  while  they  pur- 
chased, but  went  home  entirely  satisfied  with 
anything  of  which  they  could  say,  "  I  bought  it 
at  Stewart's." 


Philip   Danforth   Armour. 


X. 

PHILIP    DANFORTH    ARMOUR. 

IT  has  been  well  said  that  the  man  who  makes 
two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  only  one  grew 
before  is  a  public  benefactor.  A  very  direct  in- 
terpretation of  this  doctrine  makes  it  apply  to 
the  man  whose  energy  and  enterprise,  guided  by 
special  faculties  of  his  own,  open  new  business 
channels  or  increase  the  capacity  of  any  already 
existing.  By  the  business  success  of  such  men 
the  business  machinery  is  invented  and  builded 
which  thenceforth  may  be  used  by  others.  It  is 
through  them  that  our  resources  of  production 
are  made  available.  In  literal  truth,  the  blades 
of  grass  are  multiplied  as  uses  are  provided  for 
them,  while  all  the  grass  that  in  the  old  time 
withered  where  it  grew  changes  its  nature  and 
becomes  a  factor  in  the  general  prosperity. 

There  is  a  class  of  men  found  nowhere  else 
more  frequently  than  in  our  own  country,  who 
are  endowed  with  something  strongly  resem- 
bling a  creative  power,  for  in  their  hands  forces 
or  materials  unseen  by  others,  or  unmanageable 
if  seen,  take  on  shape,  system,  and  precision  of 
movement.  What  they  really  do  is  to  construct 
the  business  organism  through  which  the  primal 
laws  of  supply  and  demand  can  operate.  Every 


198  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

department  of  our  national  development  furnishes 
abundant  examples.  Probably  in  no  other,  how- 
ever, have  the  changes  accomplished  been  of 
greater  importance  to  the  general  welfare  of  this 
and  other  countries  than  in  the  organization  of 
capital,  labor,  and  business  functions  which  takes 
care  of  our  transportable  food  products. 

The  benefit  accrues  alike  to  the  producer  and 
the  consumer,  for  these  are  brought  into  relations 
with  each  other  which  could  not  otherwise  ex- 
ist, and  the  man  who  sows  wheat  in  Nebraska 
becomes  a  helpful  next  -  door  neighbor  to  the 
man  who  eats  bread  on  the  Rhine.  The  social 
and  political  consequences  are  visible,  at  least  in 
outline,  to  the  most  casual  observation.  Every 
toiler  in  the  East  has  a  cash  interest  in  the  fact 
that  the  new  States  of  the  West  have  been  settled 
and  that  their  countless  farms  have  become  prof- 
itable, because  of  the  varied  business  successes 
which  have  brought  their  crops  of  all  kinds 
nearer  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  at  prices  which 
under  the  old  order  of  things  would  have  cut  off 
production. 

Prominent  among  the  Americans  whose  use- 
fulness is  in  this  way  indicated,  one  man  may  be 
instanced  whose  career  would  read  like  a  romance 
if  it  were  not  so  deeply  marked  with  common 
sense  and  so  utterly  devoid  of  anything  erratic. 

Philip  Danforth  Armour  was  born  at  Stock- 
bridge,  Madison  County,  N.  Y.,  May  16,  1832. 
The  family  was  of  Scotch  descent,  but  had  been 
among  the  earlier  settlers  of  New  England. 
This  branch  of  it  removed  from  Connecticut  to 


PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR  199 

New  York  in  1825,  when  the  region  they  opened 
their  farm  in  was  comparatively  new.  Most  of 
it  was  still  covered  by  forests  in  which  no  axe 
had  ever  been  plied.  A  Madison  County  pioneer 
farmer,  like  Philip's  father,  might  be  a  very  in- 
dependent and  even  prosperous  man  for  the 
times,  but  such  a  household  as  that  of  the  Ar- 
mours required  to  be  managed  with  the  strictest 
economy,  allied  to  the  most  untiring  industry. 
How  this  was  well  assured  may  in  part  be  under- 
stood from  the  fact  that  Philip's  mother,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Brooks,  had  been  a  school- 
teacher, and  deemed  it  her  duty  to  bring  with 
her  for  home  application  the  rigid  discipline  of 
the  school-room.  No  doubt  she  found  this  all  the 
more  needful  as  her  class  of  young  Armours  in- 
creased until  it  contained  six  uncommonly  sturdy 
boys  and  three  girls.  Subsequent  events  make 
it  interesting  now  to  consider  the  numberless 
home  industries  in  the  performance  of  which 
those  vigorous  young  people  were  trained  to 
work  together  and  held  to  a  strict  account  at  the 
end  of  their  work.  It  is  evident  that  the  secret 
of  organized  co-operation  and  business  partner- 
ship was  taught  systematically  through  the  va- 
ried "  chores  "  of  the  Madison  County  farm. 

To  such  a  family  a  fair  degree  of  prosperity 
was  sure  to  come,  but  its  younger  membership 
grew  up  with  a  clear  understanding  that  they 
could  not  always  remain  at  home.  As  for  Philip, 
in  addition  to  the  invaluable  training  given  him 
by  his  father  and  mother,  he  was  enabled  to 
obtain  all  that  could  be  given  him  by  the  district 


200  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

school  of  the  neighborhood,  and  then  he  was  sent 
to  the  academy  at  Cazenovia  for  another  step  in 
school-book  education.  He  had  already  distin- 
guished himself  among  his  playfellows  as  a 
boy  of  more  than  ordinary  bodily  strength  and 
courage.  His  brothers  were  very  much  like  him 
in  this  respect,  and  their  overflowing  animal 
spirits  had  not  always  been  in  perfect  control 
when  beyond  the  wholesome  repression  of  their 
home  government.  One  of  them,  next  older 
than  Philip,  had  managed  to  get  himself  into 
a  boyish  scrape  at  the  academy,  much  to  his 
father's  mortification,  and  Philip  felt  under  a 
kind  of  bond  for  good  behavior.  It  was  true 
that  he  could  not  help  being  a  leader  among  the 
boys,  but  he  would  have  done  very  well  if  it  had 
not  been  for  one  of  the  girls.  It  was  but  a  boy's 
romance,  an  innocent  affair,  that  would  have 
passed  and  left  little  impression  upon  a  weaker 
nature.  To  Philip,  however,  it  was  something 
serious,  and  the  otherwise  probable  course  of 
his  life  was  changed.  He  was  only  seventeen, 
tall  and  muscular  for  his  age,  and  his  mind  also 
was  ready  for  the  powerful  stimulus  in  this  way 
given.  He  went  home  to  tell  his  father  that  he 
would  go  to  school  no  more,  and  then  he  told  his 
mother  that  he  was  going  to  California  to  mine 
for  gold,  but  neither  of  them  then  knew  precisely 
why  he  refused  to  return  to  Cazenovia.  As  for 
that  matter,  his  brief  courtship  had  indeed  been 
a  violation  of  the  social  laws  of  the  seminary, 
but  not  otherwise  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
two  very  young  people  engaged  in  it. 


PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR  201 

It  was  the  year  1850,  and  the  California  fever 
was  at  its  heat.  Wonderful  tales  were  told  of 
the  fortunes  won  and  the  prospects  for  more 
among  the  placers  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Men 
with  money  to  pay  their  passage  could  get  there 
by  sailing  all  the  way  around  Cape  Horn,  or  by 
the  Isthmus  route,  but  Philip's  father,  even  after 
consenting  to  the  proposed  adventure,  advocated 
as  it  was  by  Mrs.  Armour,  had  no  considerable 
sum  to  spare.  Perhaps  it  was  as  well,  for  Philip 
found  three  or  four  other  stout  farmer  boys  who 
were  ready  to  walk  across  the  continent  with 
him.  That  is,  they  were  carried  part  of  the  way 
by  rail  and  otherwise  and  walked  the  rest  of  it, 
the  entire  journey  taking  a  round  six  months. 
There  were  privations  and  hardships  to  be  en- 
dured on  such  a  march,  and  there  were  endless 
adventures,  for  the  path  followed  led  among 
Indian  tribes  and  across  deserts  and  through  the 
difficult  passes  of  the  mountain  ranges.  Philip 
had  little  besides  his  own  tough  muscles  for  capi- 
tal, when,  at  last,  he  saw  his  first  placer  and 
found  a  spot  where  he  could  dig  and  wash  for 
dust  and  nuggets. 

He  worked  with  pretty  good  success  and  he 
wasted  nothing,  for  he  kept  the  good  habits  he 
had  been  trained  in.  He  was  also  studying  the 
business  opportunities  of  the  country,  however, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  he  persuaded  his 
friends  to  join  him  in  purchasing  and  develop- 
ing a  "  ditch  " — a  rude  aqueduct  to  convey  water 
for  diggers  and  washers.  It  proved  so  profit- 
able that  his  companions,  otherwise  wearied  of 


202  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

California  life,  were  satisfied  at  the  end  of  a  year 
to  sell  out  to  him  and  return  home.  Philip  re- 
mained to  manage  that  and  other  water-powers 
among  the  placers,  until,  in  1856,  he  too  was  sat- 
isfied. When  he  left  home  he  had  dreamed  of 
mining  gold  enough  to  come  back  and  buy  a 
farm  in  Madison  County  some  day.  There  had 
been  another  part  of  his  dream,  for  he  had  ex- 
pected that  letters  would  follow  him  to  the 
mines.  Some  did  at  times,  but  not  the  ones  he 
had  hoped  for,  although  he  wrote  again  and 
again.  He  seemed  to  be  unanswered,  forgotten, 
and  he  too  ceased  to  write.  It  was  not  until 
long  afterward  that  he  learned  that  only  the  de- 
fective mail  transportation  of  the  mining  region 
had  been  to  blame,  so  that  he  too  had  seemed 
neglectful.  Letters  on  both  sides  had  failed  to 
reach  their  intended  readers,  and  so  the  school- 
day  loves  died  out.  Still,  there  was  a  reason 
why,  when  the  tall  and  brawny  miner  of  twenty- 
three  went  home  to  tell  his  father  and  mother 
and  the  rest  that  he  was  now  able  to  buy  several 
farms  if  he  wished  them,  that  he  did  not  buy 
any,  but  turned  away.  He  himself  afterward 
declared  that  everything  seemed  so  much  smaller 
than  when  he  was  a  boy  that  it  pained  him.  His 
brothers  and  sisters  had  indeed  grown  up,  and 
some  of  them  had  left  home.  The  house,  the 
trees,  the  hills  were  dwarfish,  and  Oneida  Creek 
was  a  mere  rill.  He  had  been  living  among 
mountains  and  had  seen  the  giant  trees  of  Cali- 
fornia. At  all  events,  he  spent  only  a  few  weeks 
at  home  and  then  again  went  westward.  The 


PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR  203 

East,  with  its  settled  ways  and  its  seemingly  oc- 
cupied ground,  was  no  place  for  him.  He 
travelled  on  and  on  until  he  reached  Milwaukee, 
Wis.,  then  in  its  very  first  stages  of  growth.  A 
friend,  Mr.  Frederick  S.  Miles,  was  already  car- 
rying on  a  wholesale  grocery  and  commission 
business  here,  and  the  miner's  capital  was  wel- 
come. A  partnership  was  formed  which  con- 
tinued, with  marked  success,  until  1863,  but 
Mr.  Armour's  business  ambition  was  setting 
steadily  in  one  direction.  He  had  been  studying 
the  existing  methods  for  moving  the  vast  and 
increasing  food  products  of  the  West,  and  be- 
lieved he  had  found  a  field  that  suited  him.  He 
had  capital,  and  he  had  also  a  well-earned  repu- 
tation as  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  trusted 
business  men  of  the  Northwest.  It  was  a  very 
deep  mark  to  have  made  in  less  than  six  years, 
but  other  men  seemed  to  have  no  question  what- 
ever of  his  financial  capacity  and  sure  success. 

The  old  firm  dissolved  and  Mr.  Armour 
bought  what  was  then  the  largest  elevator  in 
Milwaukee.  This  placed  him  in  relations  with 
the  grain  movement,  but  he  at  the  same  time 
went  further.  Mr.  John  Plankinton  had  been 
established  in  Milwaukee  during  a  number  of 
years,  and,  in  partnership  with  Frederick  Lay- 
ton,  had  built  up  its  most  prosperous  pork-pack- 
ing concern.  In  1862  Mr.  Armour's  brother, 
Herman  O.  Armour,  had  established  himself  at 
Chicago  in  the  grain  commission  business, 
which  he  now  turned  over  to  the  care  of  another 
brother,  Joseph  F.  Armour,  that  he  might  go  to 


204  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

New  York  as  a  member  of  the  new  firm  of 
Armour,  Plankinton  &  Co.  The  Chicago  house 
retained  its  former  name  of  H.  O.  Armour  &  Co., 
but  did  not  undertake  "packing"  until  1868. 
Philip  D.  Armour  remained  in  Milwaukee  for  a 
while,  but  he  had  thus  already  constructed  an 
admirable  piece  of  business  machinery  to  which 
all  other  improvements  could  be  readily  added. 
It  was  of  peculiar  importance  that  the  Milwaukee 
and  Chicago  houses  should  be  able  to  ship  to 
a  house  of  their  own,  that  is,  to  themselves,  in 
New  York.  Many  risks  were  thereby  avoided 
and  a  certainty  was  assured  of  obtaining  all  that 
the  ever-changing  markets  could  offer  them. 

Other  things  were  changing,  at  startling  rates 
of  progression.  The  West  was  growing  fast  and 
its  areas  of  production  were  astonishing  all 
observers  by  the  results  offered  for  handling  and 
shipment.  Railway  lines  were  reaching  out  in 
new  directions  or  were  increasing  their  capaci- 
ties while  lowering  their  rates  of  transportation. 
The  very  shipping  on  the  lakes  was  changing  its 
character  and  multiplying  its  tonnage.  It  was 
the  time  of  times  for  the  organization  of  the  busi- 
ness enterprise  of  which  Mr.  Armour  was  the 
acknowledged  head,  however  capable  and  trust- 
worthy his  associates  undoubtedly  were. 

There  had  been  other  changes  which  rendered 
possible  the  creation  of  such  a  food-gathering 
and  delivering  system  as  that  which  Mr.  Armour 
and  his  partners  had  undertaken  to  form  and 
perfect.  It  was  in  the  third  year  of  the  civil 
war,  and  they  had  full  faith  as  to  what  the  end  of 


PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR  205 

that  must  be,  especially  after  the  events  of  the 
"  battle  summer  "  marked  by  Vicksburg  and 
Gettysburg.  The  State  banking  systems  had 
passed  away  and  had  been  replaced  by  the  na- 
tional banks,  while  the  bank-notes  issued  by 
these,  with  the  legal-tender  "greenbacks"  of  the 
United  States,  provided  a  uniform  currency, 
everywhere  available,  instead  of  the  miscella- 
neous and  often  questionable  paper  which  had 
embarrassed  produce  purchasers  in  former  times. 
The  system  of  exchanges  between  the  East  and 
West  had  become  greatly  simplified.  A  great 
stimulus  had  been  given  to  all  farming  operations 
by  war  prices  and  the  war  demand.  Nothing 
more  was  required  than  a  steady  day  and  night 
watchfulness  upon  the  New  York  and  Western 
markets,  kept  up  by  competent  men  in  contin- 
uous telegraphic  communication  with  each  other 
and  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  legitimate 
demand  and  supply.  They  were  therefore  able 
to  form  generally  correct  opinions  also  concern- 
ing the  course  and  result  of  speculative  move- 
ments by  whomsoever  engineered. 

As  to  these,  the  Armours  doubtless  bought  and 
sold  with  reference  to  any  and  all  artificial  fluc- 
tuations in  prices,  but  they  were  not  gamblers. 
They  were  the  intelligent  servants  of  a  great 
public  use.  To  that  end  they  were  thoughtfully 
adopting  every  attainable  improvement,  mechan- 
ical or  otherwise,  in  the  methods  and  appliances 
for  handling  every  pound  of  grain  or  flesh  with- 
in their  sphere  of  operations.  In  every  depart- 
ment of  their  business  the  widest  liberality  went 


206  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

hand  in  hand  with  the  closest  economy.  Any 
hog,  for  instance,  might  be  a  loosely  going  fellow 
up  to  the  hour  when  he  was  sold  to  an  agent  of 
Mr.  Armour.  From  that  time  onward  he  might  as 
well  have  been  one  of  the  parts  of  a  watch,  so  com- 
pletely systematic  were  all  his  movements  until, 
in  the  forms  given  him  at  the  packing-house,  he 
was  offered  upon  the  market.  Not  an  ounce  of 
him  for  which  science  had  discovered  a  use  had 
been  wasted  on  the  way.  Something  closely 
parallel  to  this  would  be  the  story  of  a  bushel 
of  wheat  or  corn  passing  through  the  Armour 
elevators. 

The  last  year  of  the  war  and  the  years  imme- 
diately following  were  marked  by  many  and 
sharp  fluctuations  in  the  provision  trade,  but 
these  were  not  permitted  to  work  any  harm  to 
the  Armours.  As  a  rule,  the  house  was  prepared 
to  profit  by  them,  and  the  net  result  was  a  large 
increase  in  cash  capital.  It  was  needed,  for  the 
"  plant "  of  the  concern  was  absorbing  sums 
which  could  not  have  been  spared  by  any  house 
greatly  dependent  upon  credit.  As  to  this,  how- 
ever, financial  men  had  acquired  a  degree  of 
confidence  which  almost  released  the  Armour 
paper  from  the  ordinary  consequences  of  re- 
stricted money  markets. 

A  great  tide  of  migration  westward  took  place 
after  the  war,  and  it  was  necessary  to  follow  it. 
Another  branch  house  was  therefore  established 
at  Kansas  City,  in  1871,  under  the  name  of  Plank- 
inton  &  Armour,  and  in  charge  of  Simon  E.  Ar- 
mour, one  of  Philip's  older  brothers.  Two  years 


PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR  207 

later  the  great  panic  of  1873  offered  a  sufficient 
test  of  the  solidity  of  the  seemingly  widely  ex- 
tended business  connection,  for  it  hardly  ap- 
peared to  have  undergone  any  special  strain, 
while  large  numbers  of  neighbor  firms  went  down. 

The  last  change  of  importance  in  the  mere  an- 
nals of  the  firm  took  place  in  1875.  The  failing 
health  of  Mr.  Joseph  F.  Armour  unfitted  him 
for  the  heavy  burden  of  the  Chicago  business. 
Mr.  Plankinton  was  therefore  left  at  Milwaukee, 
while  Philip  D.  Armour  removed  to  Chicago, 
where  he  has  since  resided. 

There  were  six  of  the  brothers  and  one  was 
still  at  home,  upon  the  old  Stockbridge  farm. 
He  had  proved  himself  a  capable  business  man, 
however,  and  in  1879  the  Armour  Brothers 
Banking  Company  was  created  at  Kansas  City, 
and  Mr.  Andrew  Watson  Armour  was  made 
president  of  it.  There  is  probably  no  record  in 
this  country  of  anything  like  a  similar  business 
success  won  by  six  farmer  boys.  It  cannot  be 
said  to  have  come  from  the  good  fortune  of  one 
of  them  in  the  California  gold  mines.  No  doubt 
it  is  true,  however,  that  the  same  integrity, 
energy,  and  business  ability  which  made  more 
money  out  of  a  ditch  than  other  men  were  mak- 
ing out  of  rich  placers  had  continued  to  direct 
the  management  of  the  capital  brought  back  by 
Philip  D.  Armour. 

Chicago  is  the  naturally  central  point  of  such 
a  business  as  that  of  Armour  &  Co.,  but  it  be- 
came much  more  so  after  the  office  of  the  firm  in 
that  city  was  taken  in  charge  of  the  head  of  the 


208  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

house.  His  brother  indeed  never  recovered  his 
health,  but  passed  away  in  1881.  The  business 
grew  with  the  swift  growth  of  the  country,  keep- 
ing pace  with  every  step  of  the  general  develop- 
ment. 

That  it  did  so  is  a  result  due  to  the  combined 
intelligence  of  many  working  in  perfect  accord 
with  their  acknowledged  captain.  Even  the 
workingmen  regarded  him  as  their  friend  as  well 
as  employer.  During  a  season  of  labor  trouble, 
when  a  general  strike  had  been  ordered,  the  new 
men  obeyed,  but  the  old  hands  who  knew  Mr. 
Armour  refused,  and  no  less  than  eight  hundred 
of  them  went  along  with  their  work.  There  was 
no  trouble  between  him  and  them,  and  so  far  as 
he  could  prevent,  there  never  would  be.  In  this, 
better  than  in  another  way,  can  be  seen  the 
peculiar  personal  force  of  the  man  with  and  for 
whom  so  many  others  of  every  grade  and  kind 
have  worked  for  common  purposes  during  so 
many  years  with  hardly  a  recorded  jar. 

No  doubt  the  faculty  of  cordial  co-operation 
was  inborn  and  was  judiciously  fostered  in 
childhood,  in  a  home  where  there  was  uncom- 
mon unity  and  mutual  confidence  between  par- 
ents and  children.  Philip's  mother  had  said  to 
him,  when  he  spoke  to  her  of  the  California 
trip :  "  Philip,  you  can  go.  I  can  trust  you ;  1 
know  that  you  will  do  no  discredit  to  us." 

So  said  his  father,  and  years  after  he  had 
passed  away,  old  Mrs.  Armour,  living  with 
Philip,  considered  herself  an  active  partner  in 
the  concern  and  regularly  examined  critically 


PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR  209 

the  reports  and  balance-sheets  of  all  the  houses 
managed  by  her  children,  sons  or  sons-in-law. 
She  was  a  woman  of  excellent  business  judg- 
ment, and  her  opinions  and  suggestions  were 
always  heeded. 

As  the  years  went  by,  the  great  packing-house 
became  almost  as  one  of  the  public  institutions 
of  the  West,  so  important  was  its  agency  in  col- 
lecting and  forwarding  the  products  of  several 
States.  Mr.  Armour  long  ago  ceased  to  be 
merely  a  buyer  and  seller,  for  the  nature  of  his 
business  compelled  him  to  become  a  manufac- 
turer as  well  as  a  merchant.  Bacon,  for  instance, 
is  a  manufactured  article,  and  it  was  strictly  in 
the  line  of  the  cattle  trade  that  a  vast  glue-fac- 
tory was  added  to  the  Chicago  plant. 

A  very  fair  idea  of  the  business  success  at- 
tained may  be  formed  by  a  study  of  the  transac- 
tions of  Armour  &  Co.  for  the  year  ending 
April  i,  1893.  Not  counting  other  purchases  or 
sales,  but  the  distributing  business  for  consump- 
tion only,  these  amounted  to  over  $102,000,006. 
The  hogs  killed  were  1,750,000;  the  cattle  were 
1,080,000;  the  sheep  were  625,000.  Eleven  thou- 
sand men  were  constantly  employed  and  the 
wages  paid  them  were  over  $5,500,000.  The 
railway  cars  owned  by  the  firm  number  over 
four  thousand.  The  wagons  are  of  many  kinds 
and  of  large  number,  drawn  by  750  horses.  The 
glue -factory,  employing  750  men,  made  over 
twelve  millions  of  pounds  of  glue. 

Over  all  this  business  interest,  with  its  branches 
and  with  its  relations  to  so  many  workmen  and 
14 


210  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

their  families  and  to  so  many  farm-house  homes, 
still  presides  the  hale  and  vigorous  old  man  who 
in  his  teens  walked  across  the  continent  to  Cal- 
ifornia to  make  a  fortune  out  of  water  instead  of 
gold.  Every  morning  at  seven  o'clock  he  is  at 
his  desk,  cheerful,  contented,  and  making  others 
feel  the  same  by  manner  and  example.  He  is 
still  a  workingman  and  could  not  with  comfort 
be  anything  else,  remaining  at  his  task  until  the 
evening.  The  business  is  transacted  for  its  own 
sake,  rather  even  than  for  its  profits,  large  as 
these  are.  Its  manager  has  travelled  far  and  wide 
and  has  studied  the  business  methods  of  his  own 
and  other  lands,  bringing  into  his  own  counting- 
room  and  factories  every  teaching  or  improve- 
ment he  could  find  for  the  benefit  of  all  concerned. 
He  is  well  posted  in  the  questions  of  the  day,  but 
has  refused  to  meddle  with  politics  beyond  per- 
forming his  duties  as  a  citizen.  He  has  not 
called  it  "  politics,'*  however,  to  take  an  active 
interest  in  all  the  legislation  and  diplomacy 
called  for  in  securing  protection  for  the  increas- 
ing shipments  of  American  meat  products  to  Eu- 
rope. It  has  been  a  matter  of  course  that  this 
has  brought  him  into  consultation  and  personal 
relations  Avith  many  of  our  foremost  statesmen 
and  diplomats,  as  well  as  with  representatives  of 
parties  and  of  the  press. 

The  farmer's  boy  who,  from  the  beginning, 
showed  so  strong  a  tendency  for  taking  other 
boys  along  with  him,  and  who  kept  it  up  until 
the  entire  crowd  numbers  about  twelve  thousand 
paid  by  his  own  business  establishment,  has  by 


PHILIP  DANFORTH  ARMOUR  211 

no  means  lost  his  interest  in  young  people  of  the 
age  of  those  whom  he  found  and  left  at  the  Caze- 
novia  Academy.  His  deep  interest  in  them  and 
in  the  general  cause  of  education  has  been  mani- 
fested in  many  ways  and  most  notably  by  the 
founding  and  directing  of  the  Armour  Institute 
at  Chicago.  This,  too,  promises  to  become  a 
monument  to  his  peculiar  faculty  for  improving 
upon  previously  existing  methods. 

In  1862  Mr.  Armour  married  Miss  Malvina 
Belle  Ogden,  of  Cincinnati,  and  he  has  sons  who 
seem  to  have  inherited  their  father's  character 
and  capacity. 

The  Cazenovia  girl  whose  letters  were  lost  on 
the  way  also  married  happily  in  due  season,  but 
something  of  romance  still  attaches,  on  her  ac- 
count, to  the  remarkable  career  of  the  boy  who 
broke  the  rules  of  the  school  for  her  sake,  walked 
across  the  continent  that  he  might  win  he  knew 
not  what,  and  came  back  to  find  that  nothing 
would  induce  him  to  settle  in  that  neighbor- 
hood. It  was  too  narrow,  for  more  reasons  than 
one,  but  wide  indeed  was  the  other  neighborhood 
into  which  he  went  out  that  he  might  organize 
in  it,  from  the  Atlantic  shore  to  the  lakes  and  the 
Western  plains  and  mountains,  the  business  con- 
nections and  success  of  the  Armours. 


XL 
HORACE  BRIGHAM  CLAFLIN. 

AMONG  the  eternal  truths  long  ago  written 
down  for  the  guidance  of  men,  is  hardly  any  so 
imperfectly  understood  as  this :  "  The  liberal 
soul  deviseth  liberal  things,  and  by  liberal  things 
shall  he  stand." 

The  miserly  ignore  it  altogether.  The  merely 
ostentatious,  the  hypocrites  of  false  charity  and 
the  traders  in  giving,  read  only  the  promise  and 
misinterpret  the  condition. 

It  is  a  precept  which  peculiarly  applies  to  the 
conduct  of  business,  to  all  the  affairs  of  active 
life,  and  its  examples  are  more  numerous  than 
the  unthinking  imagine.  A  business  record, 
therefore,  which  furnishes  a  complete  illustra- 
tion, known  and  read  of  all  men,  is  worth  pre- 
senting as  a  study  for  those  who  wish  to  succeed. 

Horace  B.  Claflin  was  born  at  Milford,  Mass., 
December  18,  1811.  It  was  a  small  place,  bear- 
ing only  the  ordinary  marks  of  a  New  England 
village.  It  had  its  district  school  and  its  acad- 
emy, and  the  pervading  tone  among  its  thrifty 
families  was  eminently  moral  and  religious.  The 
boys  who  grew  up  there  were  likely  to  receive 
precept  upon  precept  and  line  upon  line,  and 
with  them  such  occasional  corrective  applica- 


Horace   Brigham   Clafli 


HORACE  BRIGHAM  CLAP  LIN  213 

tions  as  were  in  that  day  supposed  to  be  the  in- 
dispensable needs  of  boys  at  the  hands  of  parents 
and  preceptors. 

The  father  of  Horace  was  Mr.  John  Claflin, 
and  he  was  a  prosperous  man,  as  times  went. 
He  kept  a  country  store,  with  the  usual  miscel- 
laneous assortment  of  whatever  goods  were  like- 
ly to  be  called  for,  some  that  were  unlikely  and 
some  that  ought  not  to  have  been  called  for. 
He  also  owned  and  conducted  a  farm  and  held 
the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace. 

At  school  and  at  the  academy,  Horace  seems 
to  have  been  better  known  for  his  love  of  fun 
than  for  anything  else,  although  he  attended  to 
his  books  reasonably  well.  He  acquired  as  much 
from  them  as  falls  to  the  share  of  most  bright, 
merry  boys,  overflowing  with  animal  spirits,  but 
he  did  not  do  more,  and  he  formed  no  tastes 
for  further  advancement  in  scholarship.  Per- 
haps his  father's  store  aided  more  than  was  sus- 
pected, in  arousing  and  shaping  his  natural 
genius,  but  he  was  himself  the  first  to  discover 
his  own  bent  and  determine  the  path  in  life  he 
was  to  pursue.  It  was  his  father's  ambition  that 
his  son  should  take  a  college  course  and  prepare 
for  one  of  the  learned  professions.  He  was  a 
wise  parent,  however,  and  decided  not  to  em- 
ploy too  much  pressure  in  such  a  matter.  He 
spoke  to  the  academy  principal  about  it,  and  he, 
with  whom  Horace  was  something  of  a  favorite, 
brought  before  the  fun-loving  boy  of  sixteen  the 
grim  subject  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  required  to 
pass  a  college  examination.  Horace  listened, 


214  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

thought  about  it,  and  promised  to  try  the  dead 
languages  "  and  see  how  it  agrees  with  me." 

It  was  a  short  trial.  Before  long  he  came 
again  to  report  a  final  result,  saying  to  his  friend 
and  preceptor : 

"  My  purpose  is  to  spend  my  life  in  trade,  and 
I  do  not  see  how  the  study  of  Greek  and  Latin 
will  be  beneficial  to  me  in  that  pursuit.  I  want 
to  be  in  business  this  minute.  I  am  young,  but 
that  is  no  objection.  The  younger  I  begin  the 
better." 

The  talk  was  reported  to  John  Claflin  and  he 
again  showed  the  clear-minded  common  sense 
which  had  probably  been  the  most  valuable  ele- 
ment in  his  son's  early  instruction,  for  he  said : 
"  Sure  enough,  why  should  he  study  Latin  and 
Greek,  if  he  is  to  be  a  merchant." 

There  was  the  store,  however,  and  very  soon 
afterward  the  young  merchant  was  serving  his 
apprenticeship  behind  his  father's  counter.  He 
had  always  been  free  of  the  place  and  felt  at 
home  there,  but  now  it  had  become  his  academy 
and  his  college,  in  which  he  was  to  learn  the 
arts  and  sciences  of  business  life.  He  was  but 
twenty  years  of  age  when  his  father  determined 
to  retire  from  store-keeping.  He  had  another 
son  named  Aaron,  and  a  son  in  law  named 
Samuel  Daniels.  The  three  young  men  were  all 
apparently  fitted  to  set  out  upon  their  own  ac- 
count. They  each  received  one  thousand  dol- 
lars, as  capital  to  begin  with,  and  the  business 
was  turned  over  to  them.  It  looked  like  a  prom- 
ising start  in  life,  for  the  country  in  which  John 


HORACE  BRIOHAM  CLAFLIN  215 

Claflin  had  prospered  was  growing  richer 
yearly,  but  his  sons,  at  least,  were  not  long  con- 
tented with  their  narrow  quarters  at  Milford. 
A  year  later,  in  1832,  Horace  became  of  age,  and 
he  and  Aaron  opened  a  branch  store  in  Worces- 
ter, Mass.  This  was  devoted  exclusively  to  dry- 
goods,  the  old  concern  retaining  its  general 
character.  Another  year  went  by  with  fair  suc- 
cess, and  then  a  partition  was  agreed  upon. 
Aaron  retained  the  established  country-store 
business  at  Milford,  while  Horace  launched  out 
alone  into  the  uncertainties  and  competitions  of 
the  new  enterprise.- 

He  had  made  one  important  innovation  in  Mil- 
ford,  and  he  carried  it  with  him  to  Worcester. 
In  that  day  almost  all  men  were  supposed  to 
make  more  or  less  use  of  alcoholic  liquors. 
Not  only  did  all  stores  and  groceries  keep  them 
on  hand  for  sale,  but  they  were  deemed  indis- 
pensable to  the  proper  method  of  being  polite  to 
customers.  If  a  man  bought  anything  worth 
while  it  was  meanness  and  rudeness  not  to  treat 
him.  If  he  was  a  new-comer,  a  social  glass 
might  draw  him  on  to  business.  If  he  was  a 
hard  dealer,  sharp  in  his  bargains,  he  might  be 
softened  and  the  way  to  his  pocket  made  easier. 

About  the  first  stroke  of  business  energy  per- 
formed by  Horace,  however,  on  becoming  a 
partner  in  the  young  firm,  was  to  bring  up  from 
the  cellar  and  out  from  the  store  every  quart  of 
the  liquor  on  hand,  and  pour  it  into  the  gutter. 
No  more  was  ever  brought  in,  and  when  he 
began  his  business  career  in  Worcester,  no  bait 


216  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

of  that  kind  was  employed  to  allure  his  custom- 
ers. 

He  did  attract  them,  however,  and  that  by 
methods  which  brought  upon  him  the  sharp  dis- 
pleasure of  all  his  business  rivals,  who  loved  the 
old-time  ways  and  suddenly  found  him  making 
dashing  inroads  upon  their  trade.  Even  at  this 
early  stage  of  his  career  he  had  discovered  that 
the  sure  road  to  success  lay  in  doing  business 
for  its  own  sake,  without  too  eager  an  eye  to  the 
profits  of  each  bargain. 

Since  the  old  colony  times  there  had  been  little 
change  in  the  dull  routine  of  ,trade  in  that  highly 
respectable  town.  The  old  methods  had  some- 
thing orthodox  and  sound  about  them,  and  it 
was  a  sin  to  break  them  up,  but  young  Claflin 
laughingly  did  so.  Perhaps  his  first  open  of- 
fence— for  giving  up  treating  left  that  advantage 
to  others — was  in  the  manner  and  vivacious  char- 
acter of  his  advertising.  That  important  arm  of 
the  business  service  was  then  in  its  infancy,  but 
he  proved  himself  an  adept  in  it  from  the  begin- 
ning. Worse  than  this,  however,  was  his  grave 
heresy  concerning  large  profits.  He  would  not 
have  them,  nor  the  name  of  them.  When  a 
salesman  came  to  him,  one  day,  for  praise  for 
the  wide  margin  he  had  made  in  the  disposal  of 
certain  goods,  he  found  himself  kindly  reproved 
and  was  instructed  not  to  do  so  again,  for  it  was 
contrary  to  the  principles  upon  which  the  busi- 
ness was  to  be  run.  The  next  element  that  he 
undertook  to  introduce  was  that  of  perpetual 
sunshine.  Special  attention  and  cordial  wel- 


HORACE  BRIGHAM  CLAP  LIN  217 

come  was  to  be  given  to  the  first  customers  com- 
ing in  the  morning,  that  the  day  might  begin 
well.  Perhaps  the  next  point  made  was  by  his 
own  unfailing  fund  of  humor  and  the  cheerful, 
kindly  way  in  which  he  met  all  men  and  all 
women.  Even  his  rivals  were  forced  to  put 
aside  trade  animosities  whenever  they  met  him, 
and  his  customers  became  as  his  personal  friends. 

Not  that  he  had  no  enemies.  His  credit  was 
good,  but  he  was  buying  and  selling  on  the 
credit  system  and  all  men  watched  all  other  men 
for  any  signs  of  financial  weakness.  Once  a  year 
it  was  his  custom  to  close  his  store  while  taking 
account  of  stock,  and  almost  as  often  as  this  hap- 
pened a  report  of  his  failure  travelled  around  the 
town  and  then  went  to  Boston,  to  be  inquired 
into,  contradicted,  and  laughed  over. 

The  store  first  occupied  became  too  small  for 
the  increasing  business,  and  a  larger  place  was 
taken.  At  the  same  time,  one  of  Mr.  Claflin's 
clerks  and  another  young  man  were  admitted  as 
"  junior  partners "  of  the  youngest  merchant  in 
Worcester.  He  already  had  the  largest  trade 
in  his  line  and  was  becoming  widely  known  as 
one  of  the  most  enterprising  merchants  in  New 
England  outside  of  Boston.  He  was  himself 
the  life  of  the  concern,  for  his  own  clerks  report- 
ed of  him  that  whenever  he  was  away,  buying 
goods  or  otherwise,  everything  seemed  dead 
until  he  returned.  There  could  be  no  dulness 
with  him  in  the  store  to  stir  things  up. 

Ten  years  of  good  success,  with  losses  as  well 
as  gains,  went  swiftly  by.  Mr.  Clafiin  was  now 


218  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

a  married  man,  apparently  well  settled  for  life, 
as  the  leading  merchant  of  a  prosperous  town. 
Upon  all  considerations  of  prudence,  said  all  his 
prudent  friends,  he  should  remain  where  he  was 
and  continue  to  reap  the  harvests  of  the  excel- 
lent field  which  he  had  made  his  own.  And  yet 
he  talked  of  going-  to  New  York,  where  all  the 
business  was  already  overdone  and  where  he 
would  surely  be  crushed  in  competition  with  es- 
tablished houses  of  vast  wealth  and  able  manage- 
ment. 

He  had  studied  the  matter  and  he  had  fully  de- 
termined upon  being  a  merchant,  in  the  wider 
sense  of  the  term,  rather  than  a  shop-keeper. 
After  closing  'out  his  Worcester  business,  he 
had  $30,000  in  cash  for  capital.  He  had  also 
secured  an  excellent  partner,  Mr.  William  M. 
Bulkley,  and  the  new  venture  was  undertaken 
under  the  firm  name  of  Bulkley  &  Claflin. 
People  at  all  familiar  with  the  New  York  of 
to-day  may  find  a  curious  interest  in  the  locali- 
ties of  its  business  in  the  year  1843,  f°r  the 
dry-goods  store  to  which  the  expected  trade 
was  to  come  was  away  down  at  No.  46  Cedar 
Street.  Mr.  Claflin's  residence  was  on  Pierre- 
pont  Street,  Brooklyn,  and  there  it  continued 
to  be  until  his  death,  for  when  he  grew  rich  he 
did  but  move  a  short  distance  to  his  new  and 
costlier  home. 

The  Cedar  Street  business  prospered  on  pre- 
cisely the  same  principles  which  had  prevailed 
at  Worcester,  and  it  was  wonderful  how  rapidly 
Mr.  Claflin's  personal  acquaintance  grew  within 


HORACE  BRIQHAM  CLAFLIN  219 

the  lines  of  commerce  and  finance.  He  did  not 
go  into  what  is  called  society ;  he  did  not  be- 
come a  member  of  any  club  ;  but  in  and  around 
his  own  home-circle  he  found,  or  drew  together, 
one  of  the  very  brightest  of  social  coteries.  It 
left  little  need  for  any  other  means  for  enjoying 
perfectly  the  out-of-business  hours  of  a  very 
hard-worked  business  man.  Added  to  this,  how- 
ever, were  his  relations  with  Plymouth  Church, 
in  which,  although  not  a  member  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical body,  but  of  the  society,  he  became  one 
of  the  best-known  associates,  and  was  during 
many  years  a  trustee  and  a  liberal  supporter. 

Through  seven  years  the  business  grew,  and 
then  a  larger  store  was  built  by  the  firm  at  No. 
57  Broadway,  a  region  from  which  their  kind  of 
trade  has  long  since  departed.  In  1851  Mr. 
Bulkley  retired  and  a  new  firm  was  constructed, 
under  the  title  of  Claflin,  Mellen  &  Co.,  the  com- 
pany consisting  of  several  juniors.  The  number 
and  character  of  this  part  of  Mr.  Claflin's  busi- 
ness management  brings  out  strongly  the  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  his  character.  He  had  a 
rare  judgment  of  the  qualities  of  other  men.  It 
aided  him  in  discriminating  as  to  credits  given, 
as  to  business  associates,  and  it  was  keen  in  his 
selection  of  subordinates  whom  he  could  trust. 
More  than  this  as  to  the  latter,  however,  was  his 
hearty  delight  in  helping  young  men  to  a  start  in 
life  and  older  men  who  met  with  disasters  to  start 
in  life  again.  The  instances  known  are  too  numer- 
ous for  mention  or  even  for  selection.  The  num- 
ber of  which  no  man  knew  but  himself,  and  those 


220  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

who  were  helped  can  only  be  surmised  by  reason 
of  so  many  being-  discovered. 

Just  above  Trinity  Church,  on  Broadway,  is 
the  large  building  now  known  as  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  real  estate  business.  It  is  No.  1 1 1 , 
and  very  few  who  pass  or  enter  it  would  suppose 
that  it  was  built  in  1853,  to  accommodate  the 
growing  dry-goods  business  of  Claflin,  Mellen  £ 
Co.  There  are  now  no  silks  or  other  fabrics 
offered  for  sale  so  near  the  head  of  Wall  Street. 

By  this  time,  Mr.  Claflin's  position  among  the 
merchants  of  New  York  had  become  established. 
His  credit  was  excellent,  for  all  men  who  dealt 
with  him  acquired  undoubting  faith  in  his  integ- 
rity, while  those  who  had  bought  of  him  once  were 
sure  to  come  again.  It  was  indeed  considered 
a  success  when  it  was  known  that  his  sales  for 
1853  footed  up  more  than  a  million  of  dollars ;  but 
that  sum  was  larger  then  than  it  seems  to  be  now, 
and  the  narrowing  margins  of  profit  required  in- 
creasing sales.  There  were  other  houses  doing 
as  well  or  better.  The  wealth  and  trade  of  the 
country  was  expanding  with  wonderful  rapidity, 
and  it  remained  to  be  seen  which  among  the 
many  capable  competitors  would  carry  off  tne 
lion's  share.  Probably  the  keenest  of  all  rivals, 
at  any  and  all  times,  was  the  house  of  A.  T. 
Stewart  &  Co.,  the  head  of  which  was  a  man 
who  never  hesitated  to  take  a  loss  upon  any  line 
of  goods,  if  by  so  doing  he  could  keep  or  gain  a 
line  of  customers.  Collision  after  collision,  often 
at  heavy  cost,  convinced  both  houses,  or  should 
have  done  so,  that  neither  had  any  prospect  for 


HORA CE  BRIGHAM  CLAFLIN  221 

a  permanent  victory  over  the  other.  The  least 
pleasing  part  of  the  rivalry  was  the  fact  that 
weaker  concerns  were  sometimes  crushed  in  the 
combats  of  the  stronger.  Mr.  Claflin  never 
actually  made  war — that  is,  he  never  began  it, 
but  the  very  principles  upon  which  he  did  his 
business  challenged  such  a  dashing  operator  in 
fabrics  as  was  Mr.  Stewart. 

In  the  year  1860,  the  sales  of  Claflin,  Mellen  & 
Co.  reached  the  grand  total  of  $13,500,000,  and 
again  there  was  a  demand  for  wider  quarters. 
The  wholesale  dry-goods  trade  was  steadily 
drifting  northward,  but  Mr.  Claflin  went  beyond 
its  apparent  outposts  and  bought  land  in  a  local- 
ity that  was  then  mainly  occupied  by  the  poorest 
tenement-houses.  A  new  building  was  erected 
at  the  corner  of  Church  and  Worth  Streets,  run- 
ning the  whole  length  of  the  block  to  West 
Broadway.  The  transfer  of  the  business  was  ac- 
complished, and  a  swift  expansion  followed,  very 
much  as  if  every  sail  had  been  spread  to  catch 
the  gust  of  a  great  storm. 

Mr.  Claflin  had  openly  avowed  himself  an  anti- 
slavery  man,  even  when  to  do  so  was  regarded 
as  a  very  detrimental  thing  for  a  business  man 
to  dare.  Beyond  a  doubt  it  hurt  his  Southern 
trade,  that  he  was  known  to  be  a  warm  supporter 
of  the  Republican  Party,  although  he  was  not  at 
all  a  man  to  cherish  political  bitterness.  For  that 
precise  reason,  he  underestimated  the  bitter- 
nesses which  rankled  in  the  hearts  of  other  men. 
It  was  of  no  use  to  point  out  to  him  the  clouds 
in  the  political  horizon,  or  to  urge  upon  him  the 


222  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

many  threatening  signs  that  a  hurricane  was 
near  at  hand.  In  common  with  some  of  our 
ablest  statesmen,  he  had  no  fear  of  a  violent  out- 
break— it  was  to  be  only  a  shower,  not  a  cyclone. 
All  the  more  shattering,  therefore,  was  the  effect 
of  the  first  breath  of  the  Civil  War,  in  1861.  All 
credits  suffered,  for  all  the  world  of  finance  sud- 
denly stood  still,  not  knowing  what  to  do.  Dis- 
counts almost  ceased.  The  best  of  "  customer's 
paper "  could  not  be  used  at  the  banks,  except 
within  narrow  limits.  It  was  of  no  use  to  strug- 
gle, and  the  successful  house  of  Claflin,  Mellen 
&  Co.,  saw  nothing  but  a  disastrous  failure  before 
it,  involving  an  utter  wreck  of  their  splendid 
business. 

It  is  said  that  Mr.  Claflin  hardly  lost  his 
cheerfulness,  but  met  his  down-hearted  business 
friends  with  a  brave  and  smiling  face,  and  then 
went  home  to  be  almost  as  full  of  humorous  fun 
as  ever  in  the  circle  of  which  he  was  the  life  and 
centre. 

His  genial  courage  was  a  powerful  element 
in  tiding  over  the  emergency.  He  called  a 
meeting  of  his  creditors  and  proposed  to  settle 
with  them  for  seventy  cents  on  the  dollar,  giving 
long-time  notes  for  the  various  amounts,  and  go 
on  with  the  business.  All  who  could  do  so  ac- 
cepted his  offer,  but  there  were  some  who  could 
not,  and  paper  with  his  name  on  it  was  selling  on 
the  street  at  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar.  He  could 
do  nothing  for  this  class  of  his  creditors  at  that 
time,  but  his  friends  bought  up  and  held  all  the 
claims  they  could  find.  It  was  a  time  for  a  man 


HORACE  BBIGHAM  CLAFLIN  223 

to  have  friends,  and  the  liberal  soul  who  had  con- 
tinually devised  liberal  things  found  that  he  was 
standing  while  a  host  of  others  were  falling  like 
wind-blown  trees. 

There  was  no  permanent  disaster ;  nothing 
but  losses  and  a  great  jar,  the  effect  of  which 
passed  away.  The  war  itself,  with  its  numerous 
activities,  its  vast  expenditures,  its  issues  of 
greenbacks,  caused  a  flood  of  business  to  follow 
the  temporary  stoppage.  The  firm  that  had 
been  so  wisely  and  liberally  held  up  was  in  a  po- 
sition to  profit  by  the  swift  expansion.  The  de- 
velopment of  its  trade  was  like  a  feverish  vision, 
for  during  the  year  1865-66,  May  ist  to  May  ist, 
the  sales  amounted  to  over  $72,000,000.  It  is 
said,  with  probable  correctness,  that  the  sales  of 
the  most  prominent  rival  during  the  same  year, 
while  $30,000,000  less,  were  much  more  profita- 
ble, because  including  so  large  a  retail  trade,  but 
the  foundation  principle  of  Mr.  Claflin's  manage- 
ment was  the  acceptance  of  a  moderate  profit 
for  the  benefit  of  all  concerned.  There  were 
large  aggregate  profits  nevertheless,  and  there 
were  also  endless  recoveries  of  important  sums 
from  debtors,  East  and  West,  who  were  in  like 
manner  getting  again  upon  their  feet.  Not 
long  after  the  compromise  which  set  the  busi- 
ness wheels  in  operation,  the  house  began  to 
take  up  the  extended  paper.  The  seventy  cents 
was  paid  first,  and  then  the  thirty  cents  required, 
with  interest,  to  bring  all  that  class  of  payments 
up  to  par.  Next  came  the  paper  bought  in  at 
half  price,  but  following  this  was  a  hunt  for  the 


224  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

original  holders  who  had  parted  with  it  in  dis- 
tress. Mr.  Claflin's  friends  had  not  purchased  for 
money-making,  and  they  had  transferred  to  him 
without  profit,  except  to  their  honor.  He  now 
paid  every  first  holder  in  full,  with  interest,  and 
no  man  could  say  that  he  had  lost  money  through 
trusting  the  great  house.  The  extended  paper 
was  paid  off,  discounted,  long  before  the  dates 
of  its  maturity,  and  the  credit  of  the  firm,  with 
banks,  importers,  and  manufacturers,  at  home 
and  abroad,  stood  higher  than  before  the  storm 
of  i86i,when  the  Bull  Run  defeat  marked  the 
date  of  business  suspension. 

On  January  i,  1864,  Mr.  Mellen  retired  and 
more  juniors  were  admitted  to  form  the  reor- 
ganization of  H.  B.  Claflin  &  Co.  In  providing 
for  the  prosperity  of  so  many  others  Mr.  Claflin 
necessarily  reduced  his  own  prospects  for  accu-, 
mulation,  but  his  profits  were  invested  with 
good  judgment  and  his  wealth  grew. 

From  1865  to  the  day  of  his  death,  the  volume 
of  the  firm's  transactions  exceeded  those  of  any 
other  mercantile  house  in  America,  if  not  in  all 
the  world.  A  large  number  of  other  concerns 
including  important  manufacturing  establish- 
ments, were  its  feeders,  and  seemed  almost  to 
belong  to  its  machinery.  His  business  connec- 
tions extended  to  every  land  from  which  goods 
could  be  obtained  for  his  field  in  the  American 
market,  and  his  counting-room  was  as  a  head- 
quarters for  the  merchants  of  Europe  who  vis- 
ited the  New  World. 

Mr.    Claflin    had    always    been    plainly    out- 


HORACE  BRIGIIAM  CLAP  LIN  225 

spoken  in  his  views  upon  political  questions,  but 
had  never  taken  a  part  in  politics  more  promi- 
nent than  that  of  a  liberal  contributor,  or  by  his 
welcome  presence  at  public  meetings  and  party 
councils.  In  1872,  however,  in  the  campaign  for 
the  second  election  of  President  Grant,  he 
served  as  a  Presidential  elector,  for  the  party 
was  in  need  of  all  the  strength  that  any  man 
could  give  to  it. 

The  aspect  of  the  times  then  grew  darker  as 
the  months  went  by.  The  inflated,  abnormal, 
feverish  condition  of  affairs  created  by  the  war 
could  not  long  continue  under  the  processes  of 
contraction  which  began  to  operate<  with  the  re- 
turn of  peace. 

Financiers  and  business  men  were  well  aware 
that  the  country  was  in  a  perilous  situation,  but 
there  seemed  no  possible  remedy  until  a  very 
sharp  one  came.  This  was  nothing  less  than  the 
sudden  panic  which  began  upon  Black  Friday, 
September  24,  1873,  and  swept  everything  before 
it.  Money,  that  is,  legal  tender  money,  seemed 
to  vanish.  Banks  and  trust  companies  suspend- 
ed payments.  A  host  of  houses  closed  their 
doors  and  hundreds  of  them  were  not  to  open 
again.  The  house  of  H.  B.  Claflin  &  Co.,  had 
made  no  considerable  effort  at  restricting  its 
operations.  When  the  crash  came  and  hardly 
any  more  bank  accommodations  were  to  be  had, 
its  name  was  said  to  be  out,  as  maker  or  respon- 
sible indorser,  upon  no  less  than  $25,000,000  of 
commercial  paper.  A  better  illustration  could 

not  be  given  of  the  nature  of  the  business  it  was 
15 


226  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

doing,  or  of  the  continual  burden  carried  by  its 
head  and  financial  manager.  If  he  had  been  a 
man  of  less  capacity,  or  if  other  men  had  had  less 
confidence  in  him,  there  would  have  been  a  stu- 
pendous wreck ;  but  there  was  not.  All  he  asked 
for  from  his  creditors  was  an  extension  of  time 
for  five  months,  and  it  was  readily  granted. 
The  panic  passed  away,  the  tides  of  business 
moved  again,  and  the  time  really  required  for 
taking  up  all  obligations  was  two  months  instead 
of  five,  without  loss  to  anybody.  Nobody  want- 
ed to  see  H.  B.  Claflin  fail.  His  personal  char- 
acter stood  like  a  tower,  and  the  entire  business 
community  took  a  kindly  pleasure  in  the  fact 
that  he  had  "  pulled  through." 

Two  years  later,  in  1875,  came  a  most  vexa- 
tious disturbance  of  another  sort.  Upon  a  tech- 
nical misinterpretation  of  a  law  then  on  the  stat- 
ute-books, the  house  was  sued  by  the  United 
States  Government  for  large  sums  alleged  to  be 
due  in  connection  with  asserted  undervaluations 
of  imported  goods.  It  was  not  said  that  they 
had  made  money  illegally,  or  otherwise,  but  that 
they  had  become  liable  for  the  sins  of  other  men. 
It  was  a  curious  piece  of  work,  in  which  there 
seemed  to  lurk  a  thinly  covered  element  of  black- 
mail and  highway  robbery.  Popular  sympathy, 
after  a  brief  hearing  of  the  facts,  ran  strongly 
with  Mr.  Claflin,  so  much  so  that  propositions 
for  a  compromise  were  made.  He  could  wipe 
out  the  affair,  for  instance,  for  $50,000,  so  that 
the  agents  and  informers  putting  it  in  motion 
should  not  fail  to  be  paid  for  their  industry. 


HORACE  BRIGHAM  CLAP  LIN  227 

Flatly  and  firmly  he  refused  to  yield  an  inch. 
It  was  not  his  method  of  being  liberal,  and  he 
fought  it  out,  defeating  the  government  in  the 
courts  three  times  in  succession.  If  he  paid 
more  than  $50,000  in  expenses  and  law  fees,  he 
did  not  pay  a  dollar  in  any  other  way,  and  he 
won  the  battle.  As  an  expression  of  the  feeling 
of  his  fellow-citizens  and  of  their  share  in  his 
hard-won  victory,  thirty-two  leading  commercial 
houses  and  banking  institutions  united  in  ten- 
dering him  a  banquet  of  congratulation,  while 
the  public  press  added  its  hearty  approval. 

Mr.  Claflin  was  now  becoming  an  elderly  man, 
but  he  did  not  actually  slacken  his  activities. 
He  only  took  a  little  more  time  for  his  home 
comforts.  He  now  had  a  country-house,  at 
Fordham,  where  he  could  be  more  at  ease  than 
in  his  elegant  mansion  on  Pierrepont  Street. 
Particularly,  he  could  keep  more  horses  there, 
and  no  reasonably  fair  day  passed  without  a 
drive  of  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  behind  fine 
roadsters.  He  had  a  strong  liking  for  horses, 
and  he  had  been  one  of  Henry  Bergh's  warmest 
supporters  in  that  gentleman's  noble  crusade 
against  all  forms  of  cruelty  to  animals.  The 
giving  process  went  steadily  on,  reaching  out  in 
every  form  of  well-directed  charity.  No  man 
could  follow  it.  Only  by  accident,  for  instance, 
was  discovered  the  secret  of  the  long  walks  he 
was  accustomed  to  take  on  each  New  Year's 
Day.  He  went  out  with  his  hat  on  his  head,  but 
it  was  found  to  be  packed  with  small  checks  for 
distribution — no  man  ever  knew  how  or  where. 


228  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Year  after  year  went  by,  and  the  veteran  mer- 
chant seemed  to  be  as  merry,  as  happy,  as  .hu- 
morous as  ever,  but  he  was  compelled  to  take  a 
little  more,  and  a  little  more  time  for  rest  and 
recreation.  Still  he  seemed  so  well,  so  vigorous, 
that  it  was  felt  as  a  great  and  sudden  shock 
when,  on  the  I4th  of  November,  1885,  the  news 
went  out  that  a  stroke  of  paralysis  had  termi- 
nated his  long  and  honorable  career. 

The  response  was  a  marvellous  expression  of 
the  love  and  esteem  he  had  won  from  all  who 
knew  him.  There  were  meetings  of  business 
men,  of  churches,  of  charitable  societies,  of 
financiers,  for  the  formal  expression  of  a  feeling 
which  seemed  to  be  almost  universal.  There 
\vas  one  remarkable  feature  discoverable  every- 
where. The  men  who  spoke  at  these  gatherings 
and  the  writers. for  the  public  prints  did  indeed 
say  much  concerning  his  ability,  his  integrity, 
and  his  vast  success  as  a  business  man,  but  they 
turned  from  that  part  of  the  general  theme  to 
tell  warm-hearted  anecdotes  —  incidents  that 
they  knew  of  his  ever-flowing  liberality ;  bright 
sketches  of  the  manner  of  his  giving  in  all  forms 
of  help,  or  how  his  liberal  soul  had  devised  its 
liberal  things.  There  is  no  doubt,  although  they 
did  not  say  so,  that  it  was  largely  through  the 
strength'which  in  this  way  came  to  him  that  in 
his  days  of  trial  he  stood  so  firmly. 


Marshall   Owen   Roberts. 


XII. 
MARSHALL  OWEN  ROBERTS. 

IT  is  not  easy  to  express  in  one  word  our  per- 
ception that  any  man  possesses  more  of  life-force 
and  its  related  courage  than  does  another.  We 
are  nevertheless  attracted  irresistibly  by  the 
brilliant  figures  of  our  chiefs  and  heroes  of 
every  type  as  we  see  them  going  forward  in  ad- 
vance of  the  front  ranks  of  the  general  mass.  It 
is  hardly  less  so  at  times  when  they  are  found 
among  the  retreating  remnants  of  some  lost 
battle,  the  last  to  give  up  the  field  and  full  of 
grim  determination  to  fight  again.  In  any  study 
of  them,  however,  it  is  of  by  no  means  small  im- 
portance to  consider  the  surroundings  in  which 
their  careers  began,  as  well  as  their  later  achieve- 
ments. In  the  year  1814  the  city  of  New  York 
had  been  without  a  British  garrison  for  nearly 
thirty-one  years,  but  the  history  of  its  commerce 
during  all  that  time  had  prepared  it  for  the  pe- 
culiar character  it  assumed  upon  the  declaration 
of  war  with  England,  June  18,  1812.  Nearly  all 
the  causes  of  the  war  had  been  felt  with  special 
severity  by  our  seaport  towns,  and  their  popula- 
tions were  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of  retaliation  and 
reprisal  which  was  not  at  all  diminished  by  the 
fact  that  British  cruisers,  regular  navy  and  pri- 


230  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

vateers,  almost  swept  the  seas  at  once  of  Ameri- 
can merchant  craft.  It  seemed  as  if  every  swift 
ship  owned  in  New  York  and  for  which  guns 
could  be  found  was  promptly  fitted  out  as  a  pri- 
vateer, and  their  success  was  such  that  before 
long  British  insurance  companies  collected  over 
ten  per  cent,  for  insuring  cargoes  only  to  cross 
the  British  channel.  On  land,  along  the  New 
York  and  Canada  border,  and  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  occurred  much  of  the  severest  fighting  of 
the  war.  It  ended  with  the  year  1814,  but  the 
spirit  of  intense,  aggressive  patriotism  did  not 
end  with  it,  nor  did  a  kind  of  semi-warlike  pride 
in  American  ships  and  commerce. 

The  boys  of  New  York  breathed  an  atmos- 
phere full  of  patriotic  traditions  and  of  tales  of 
adventure,  while  the  new  wharves  and  ware- 
houses along  the  water-front  of  Manhattan  Island 
were  building  and  the  ships  increased  in  number 
and  in  size  before  their  eyes  year  after  year. 

Among  the  New  York  boys  born  in  the  year 
1814  (March  22d)  was  Marshall  Owen  Roberts. 
His  father  and  mother  were  Welsh,  and  in  his 
own  character,  from  step  to  step,  appeared  a  full 
share  of  the  fire,  vigor,  quick  imagination,  and 
even  rashness  which  has  always  distinguished 
the  primitive  race  of  Wales.  They  were  of  the 
upper  middle  class,  his  father  being  a  physician, 
and  their  arrival  in  New  York  had  been  in  the 
year  1798.  At  that  date,  indeed,  all  the  indus- 
trial and  commercial  interests  of  the  city  were 
still  in  the  semi-chaotic  or  formative  condition 
left  behind  by  the  long  war  for  independence. 


MARSHALL   OWEN  ROBERTS  231 

Dr.  Roberts  was  able  to  give  his  son  a  good 
education,  and  it  was  his  intention  to  send  him  to 
college  in  due  season,  and  then  to  prepare  him 
for  the  medical  profession.  The  foundations  for 
such  a  course  of  training  were  laid  in  the  best 
local  schools,  and  young  Roberts  evinced  abun- 
dant capacity  for  dealing  with  his  text-books. 
As  time  went  on,  however,  it  was  found  that  he 
had  an  unconquerable  distaste  for  the  life  of  a 
practitioner.  The  things  he  saw  and  the  current 
topics  of  discussion  with  the  other  boys  were  all 
pulling  him  in  another  direction.  Long  years 
afterward  he  would  sometimes  relate  to  inti- 
mate friends  how  even  in  his  childhood  he  used 
to  walk  along  the  wharves  and  watch  the  ships 
loading  and  unloading,  and  dream  of  where  they 
had  been  and  where  they  were  going,  till  he 
knew  the  flags  of  nations  and  the  different  kinds 
of  vessels  and  the  sailors.  So  he  came  to  long 
for  ships  of  his  own  and  for  the  stir  and  ex- 
citement, the  adventure  and  risk,  the  changing 
profit-and-loss  account  of  a  merchant's  life.  He 
was  fond  also,  as  his  boyhood  went  on,  of  fishing 
and  boating  excursions,  and  he  knew  every  nook 
and  cranny  of  the  Manhattan  Island,  New  Jersey, 
and  Long  Island  shores  of  the  port  of  New 
York. 

Very  good  use  was  made  of  the  schools  to 
which  his  father  sent  him,  but  the  college  course 
and  the  medical  diploma  were  not  to  come,  for 
he  was  yet  in  his  teens  when  he  was  permitted 
to  follow  his  own  bent.  His  first  employment 
was  as  the  youngest  clerk  in  a  wholesale  gro- 


232  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

eery  house.  Here  he  could  learn  somewhat  of 
foreign  trade  and  of  business  methods,  but  be- 
fore long  he  won  a  step  of  promotion  into  a 
regular  ship-chandler's  concern,  where  every- 
thing smelled  of  the  sea.  He  was  able  to  obtain 
good  wages,  as  times  went,  and  he  was  almost 
parsimoniously  saving,  for  he  had  great  objects 
in  view.  He  hoped,  of  course,  to  do  business  for 
himself  some  day,  but  he  was  also  cultivating 
tastes  and  tendencies  which  were  remarkable  in 
one  so  young  and  with  such  other  tastes.  He 
had  no  idea  of  ever  becoming  an  artist,  but  he 
was,  nevertheless,  passionately  fond  of  art.  In  a 
large  show-window  of  a  corner  store  that  he 
was  compelled  to  pass  frequently  there  was  a 
good -sized  oil-painting  by  a  native  artist.  Its 
merits,  really  fair,  were  to  him  wonderful.  He 
was  late  in  his  return  from  more  than  one  of  his 
business  errands  because  of  lingering  before  that 
entrancing  picture,  and  he  determined  to  save  up 
money  and  buy  it.  That  he  persevered  until  he 
succeeded  in  doing  so  was  one  of  his  earlier 
victories,  and  to  the  day  of  his  death  it  held  a 
post  of  honor  in  his  crowded  gallery,  among  the 
masterpieces  of  both  hemispheres. 

The  prize  did  not  come  at  once,  for  his  first 
use  of  his  savings  was  in  another  direction.  On 
becoming  of  age  he  launched  out  for  himself, 
with  another  young  man  of  energy  and  ambi- 
tion, in  the  general  hardware  and  shipping-sup- 
ply business. 

The  only  store  they  could 'obtain  in  a  suitable 
locality  was  too  large  for  their  capital,  and  the 


MARSHALL   OWEN  ROBERTS  233 

small  stock  they  could  purchase,  for  cash  or 
credit,  seemed  lost  upon  its  too  ample  shelves 
and  counters. 

"  They  look  like  samples  !  "-exclaimed  the  dis- 
gusted partner. 

"  That's  it!"  replied  Mr.  Roberts.  "I'll  go 
and  buy  a  load  of  bricks ! " 

Each  brick,  nearly  of  the  size  of  one  of  the 
sales  packages  of  screws,  for  instance,  was  neat- 
ly done  up  as  such  a  package,  with  a  sample  tied 
at  its  end.  It  was  art-work  that  was  done  with 
closed  doors,  but  the  shelves  now  made  a  fine 
appearance,  and  the  dummies  created  a  good  im- 
pression of  the  capacities  of  the  new  concern. 
It  was  really  astonishing  how  many  customers 
came  for  screws  to  the  place  which  kept  on 
hand  the  largest 'stock  of  them. 

During  two  years  which  followed  there  was 
an  almost  day  and  night  study  of  the  markets 
related  to  the  business,  and  of  all  the  channels  of 
supply  and  demand.  The  first  important  result, 
other  than  a  steady  increase  of  sales  to  well-satis- 
fied customers,  came  in  the  shape  of  a  govern- 
ment contract  for  the  supply  of  the  Navy  De- 
partment with  whale  oil.  Mr.  Roberts  had  made 
connections  which  enabled  him  to  become  the 
lowest  bidder,  and  the  subsequent  course  of  the 
market  gave  him  yet  a  larger  profit  than  he  had 
hoped  for. 

It  has  been  considered  worthy  of  note  how 
many  mercantile  successes  seem  to  date  from  the 
period  of  severe  depression  marked  by  the  panic 
of  1837,  and  somewhat  similar  is  the  record  of 


234  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

other  sweeping  financial  disasters.  It  was  from 
that  date  that  Mr.  Roberts  found  the  field  of  ac- 
tion manifestly  opened  for  him,  as  if  the  storm 
had  cleared  away  obstacles.  It  did  not  prove  so, 
however,  to  men  who  were  not  ready  to  seize 
the  opportunities  offered  them.  Such  as  Mr. 
Roberts  saw  and  availed  himself  of,  moreover, 
were  almost  altogether  those  which  he  had 
known  and  studied  ever  since  he  could  remem- 
ber. As  he  obtained  a  freer  use  of  capital,  he 
looked  across  the  North  River  to  the  long, 
muddy,  seemingly  useless  flats  of  the  New  Jer- 
sey shore,  and  purchased  for  a  merely  nominal 
price,  while  other  men  jeered  at  him,  reaches  of 
water-front  which  in  later  years  he  sold  for  a 
million  and  a  quarter  of  dollars.  He  had  been 
familiar  from  boyhood  with  all  the  craft  of  the 
Hudson,  freighter  passenger,  and  now  he  under- 
took to  meet  the  growing  demand  for  something 
better.  He  began  with  the  very  beginning  of 
river  steamboat  traffic,  and  his  success  in  hand- 
ling it  enabled  him  at  last  to  build  and  own  the 
steamer  Hendrik  Hudson,  the  floating  palace  of 
her  day. 

The  very  nature  of  the  several  interests  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Roberts  prepared  him,  on  the  out- 
break of  the  war  with  Mexico,  in  1845,  to  bid  for 
government  contracts  for  army  and  navy  sup- 
plies and  for  the  transportation  of  troops,  but  he 
had  seen  more  clearly  than  other  men  that  the 
war  must  come,  and  all  his  calculations  had  been 
made  before  a  gun  was  fired.  That  he  was  so 
ready  was  afterward  of  more  than  a  little  im- 


MARSHALL   OWEN  ROBERTS  235 

portance  to  the  war  operations  themselves,  and 
his  own  profits  were  large.  The  treaty  of  peace 
between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  was 
signed  early  in  February,  1848,  but  the  return  of 
troops  was  not  completed  until  a  later  day.  By 
the  treaty,  not  only  Texas,  but  New  Mexico  and 
Upper  California,  became  United  States  terri- 
tory, and  hardly  was  it  signed  before  a  report 
went  out  through  the  country  that  "  gold  dig- 
gings "  had  been  discovered  along  the  river-beds 
of  California.  It  was  said  that  the  war  volun- 
teers, as  a  rule,  marched  for  the  Pacific  slope 
placers  as  soon  as  they  were  paid  off.  The  gold 
excitement  was  at  its  height  in  1849,  and  the  main 
question  seemed  to  be  one  of  transportation  for 
the  swarms  of  eager  adventurers.  Once  more 
Mr.  Roberts  was  in  position  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  hour,  and  he  invested  heavily,  in  ships  and 
money,  in  a  company  which  proposed  to  run 
lines  of  steamers  on  either  coast  in  connection 
with  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Thousands  of 
would-be  miners  toiled  across  the  continent  over- 
land ;  others  sailed  wearily  around  Cape  Horn ; 
the  Nicaragua  and  Tehuautepec  routes  were 
preferred  by  many,  but  the  Panama  transit  more 
than  justified  the  first  opinions  formed  of  its 
superior  advantages.  The  overland  route  be- 
came a  stage  line  and  then  a  railway,  but  of  the 
several  waterways  only  the  Panama  continued 
in  operation  after  the  gold  fever  subsided.  It 
was  not  altogether  profitable  to  its  projectors, 
however.  A  contract  for  carrying  United  States 
mails,  from  which  much  was  expected,  became 


236  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

rather  a  source  of  difficulties,  and  there  were 
other  conflicts,  rivalries,  enmities  of  various 
kinds.  The  company  itself  was  forced  into 
bankruptcy,  and  Mr.  Roberts's  own  losses  were 
severe,  but  he  was  determined  not  to  be  really 
defeated.  It  was  with  more  than  a  little  exhibi- 
tion of  faith  and  courage  that  he  purchased  all 
the  sold-out  claims  of  the  bankrupt  company 
against  the  government  under  the  mail  contract. 
They  seemed  to  be  of  small  value,  but  he  pushed 
them  in  the  courts  and  before  Congress,  year 
after  year,  until  at  last  he  obtained  a  just  award 
of  over  a  million  of  dollars. 

Other  enterprises  were  going  forward  parallel 
with  these.  Mr.  Roberts  was  one  of  the  advo- 
cates of  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  &  Western 
(  "  Erie  " )  Railway  before  a  pick  was  lifted  for 
its  construction,  and  he  was  himself  the  projector 
of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western  Rail- 
road. Here  and  there  truly  he  exhibited  even 
too  much  dash  and  energy,  and  there  were  two 
sides  to  his  exceedingly  varied  profit-and-loss  ac- 
count. His  personal  friendships  were  strong, 
his  political  opinions  were  vehement,  and  he  was 
by  no  means  always  wise  in  his  expressions  of 
either.  Men  whom  he  trusted  did  not  always 
turn  out  well,  and  political  as  well  as  commercial 
antagonists  were  now  and  then  turned  into  bitter 
personal  enemies.  On  the  other  hand,  his  out- 
spoken frankness  and  his  readiness  to  help  made 
him  hosts  of  friends.  He  was  a  power  in  the 
community,  even  during  the  long  series  of  years 
when,  either,  as  a  Whig  or  a  Free-Soiler,  the 


MARSHALL   OWEN  ROBERTS  237 

party  he  belonged  to  was  in  a  hopeless  minority. 
In  1852  he  was  the  Whig  nominee  for  Congress 
in  his  own  district,  but  was  defeated,  almost  as  a 
matter  of  course.  That  party  was  in  its  deca- 
dence, and  Mr.  Roberts,  moreover,  held  views 
on  the  slavery  question  which  deprived  him  of 
the  votes  of  the  more  conservative  Whigs. 

No  better  illustration  could  be  offered  of  his 
character,  nor  of  the  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  other  enterprising  and  able  men,  than 
was  given  in  1854.  When  Cyrus  W.  Field  laid 
before  Peter  Cooper  his  plan  for  an  ocean  tele- 
graphic cable,  they  two  went  next  to  Moses  Tay- 
lor, and  all  three  declared  that  their  next  choice 
was  Marshall  O.  Roberts.  Chandler  White  made 
up  the  number  until,  at  his  death,  he  was  re- 
placed by  Wilson  G.  Hunt,  and  these  five  men 
carried  the  burdens  of  the  enterprise,  so  far  as 
American  support  was  concerned,  until  the  cable 
was  laid.  Before  a  dollar  of  foreign  capital  was 
secured,  they  had  paid  out  over  a  million  of  dol- 
lars, very  nearly  equally  divided  among  them. 

In  spite  of  many  losses  and  of  having  much 
capital  locked  up  in  shapes  which  were  com- 
pelled to  wait  for  the  future,  Mr.  Roberts  was 
now  a  very  wealthy  man.  He  was  distinguished 
for  the  liberality  with  which  he  aided  any  object, 
charitable  or  otherwise,  in  which  he  became 
interested,  so  that  he  was  almost  compelled,  as 
he  said,  to  fence  himself  in  from  innumerable 
applications. 

In  one  direction  there  seemed  to  be  hardly  any 
limit  other  than  his  own  very  correct  judgment, 


238  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

now  matured  and  critical,  for  the  city  contained 
no  other  man  whose  open  purse  and  hearty  en- 
couragement was  doing  so  much  for  American 
artists.  He  purchased  works  of  art  in  Europe, 
in  many  of  which  he  took  great  pride,  but  his 
gallery,  for  which  he  was  at  last  compelled  to 
buy  and  reconstruct  the  house  adjoining  his  own, 
contained  large  numbers  of  the  best  creations  of 
his  own  countrymen,  including  those  of  more 
than  one  struggling  beginner  whose  merit  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize. 

At  no  time  did  Mr.  Roberts  fail  to  take  an 
active  interest  in  the  questions  of  the  day,  muni- 
cipal, State,  or  national.  In  the  former  he  was 
a  well-known  figure  at  public  meetings,  and  his 
name  was  almost  as  often  seen  in  their  printed 
reports  as  it  was  upon  the  subscription  lists,  for 
it  was  a  period  of  many  kinds  of  political  and 
social  "  reform "  fermentation.  He  was  not  a 
writer,  and  his  only  claim  to  oratory  was  his 
ability  and  tendency  to  express  his  views  in  the 
briefest  and  most  intelligible  form  with  small 
reference  to  consequences. 

The  anti-slavery  agitation,  more  than  met  by 
the  correspondent  turbulence  of  pro-slavery  feel- 
ing and  action,  was  increasing  day  after  day. 
The  longer  continuance  of  either  of  the  old 
parties  was  manifestly  becoming  impossible. 
Mr.  Roberts  was  not  an  extremist,  not  what  was 
then  described  and  generally  condemned  as  an 
"abolitionist,"  but  he  threw  himself  heart  and 
soul  into  the  movement  for  the  formation  of  a 
new  party,  proposing  to  resist  the  extension  of 


MARSHALL  OWEN  ROBERTS  239 

human  slavery  into  the  new  territories  under 
process  of  formation  into  States.  He  became  a 
trusted  friend  and  supporter  of  the  leaders  of  the 
movement  in  New  York,  such  as  Morgan,  his 
business  friend,  Seward,  Greeley,  and  their  co- 
workers.  In  1856  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to 
the  first  great  gathering  of  forces  at  Pittsburg, 
and  then  to  the  Philadelphia  National  Conven- 
tion which  organized  the  People's  party,  after- 
ward the  Republican  party,  and  nominated 
John  C.  Fremont  for  President  and  William  L. 
Dayton  for  Vice-President.  Without  ceasing  to 
be  a  business  man,  or  becoming  in  any  wise  a 
politician  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  he 
took  an  intense  and  very  busy  interest  in  the 
development  of  the  new  organization.  It  was 
during  the  heat  and  excitement  of  this  period  that 
his  first  great  disaster  befell  him,  for  he  was  one 
of  the  victims  of  the  celebrated  "  National  Hotel 
poisoning  case."  At  a  dinner-party  at  that  hotel, 
in  Washington,  a  number  of  guests  were  made 
to  suffer  from  some  unknown  agent  in  the  food 
set  before  them,  some  fatally  and  others  to  a 
less  degree.  Various  explanations  were  offered, 
none  satisfactory,  but  after  Mr.  Roberts  re- 
covered the  first  severe  effects,  something  like 
an  undiscoverable  poison  remained  in  his  system, 
causing  him  intermittent  suffering  and  undoubt- 
edly shortening  his  days.  It  introduced,  how- 
ever, a  new  element  into  all  his  subsequent 
dealings  with  business  or  with  men.  Those  who 
knew  him  could  not  but  admire  the  kindly 
patience  with  which  he  attended  to  multi- 


240  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

form  affairs  and  duties  while  tortured  by 
pains  of  the  most  racking,  irritating  character. 
Many  a  time  he  would  escape  from  his  down- 
town office,  go  home,  and  try  to  endure  his  tor- 
ments the  better  as  he  walked  up  and  down, 
alone  or  with  some  friend,  from  one  to  another 
of  the  chosen  treasures  of  his  picture-gallery. 
He  could  almost  put  away  an  ache  while  discuss- 
ing and  admiring  the  genius  of  a  master. 

The  next  Presidential  campaign,  in  1860,  the 
Lincoln  campaign,  brought  Mr.  Roberts  into  al- 
most as  much  political  activity  as  if  he  had  been 
a  party  editor  or  a  stump-speaker,  and  he  con- 
tributed considerable  sums  for  the  campaign 
expenses  of  those  who  were  so.  With  the  elec- 
tion of  President  Lincoln,  however,  something 
almost  like  a  new  career  opened  before  him. 

The  muttering  thunder  of  the  coming  civil 
war  could  be  heard  during  all  the  following 
winter,  and  hostilities  had  begun,  in  several  places 
and  forms,  before  the  inauguration.  It  was  a 
time  when  timid  men  held  back  and  when  even 
brave  men  hesitated,  but  the  hot  Welsh  blood  of 
Mr.  Roberts  was  up  and  he  was  ready  for  action. 
He  was  no  soldier,  but  he  could  rally  and  arm 
soldiers,  only  regretting  that  he  was  not  to  lead 
them  in  person.  He  was  not  a  sea-captain,  but 
he  was  a  ship-owner,  and  the  country  a  few  days 
later  needed  a  swift  steam  transport  to  convey 
supplies  to  the  beleaguered  garrison  of  Fort, 
Sumter.  The  Navy  Department  had  no  vessel 
ready,  nor  funds  to  buy  or  charter  one,  but  the 
steamer  Star  of  the  West  was  instantly  offered 


MARSHALL   OWEN  ROBERTS  241 

by  Mr.  Roberts.  Her  mission  failed,  indeed,  and 
Sumter  fell ;  but  an  invaluable  example  had  been 
set,  and  the  patriotism  of  other  men  took  fire. 
Few  and  scattered  were  the  forces  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  perplexed  administration.  It  could 
not  properly  garrison  a  single  fort  on  the  coast, 
nor  guard  the  approaches  to  the  capital.  There 
were  rumors  that  the  all  but  vitally  important 
Fortress  Monroe  was  in  danger  of  sudden  seiz- 
ure. Its  loss  would  have  been  irreparable ;  but 
Mr.  Roberts  had  another  steamer,  the  America. 
He  raised  and  equipped  a  thousand  men,  the 
America  transported  them  to  man  the  threatened 
fort,  and  the  danger  was  over. 

It  was  a  busy  time  for  the  patriotic  merchant, 
for  all  his  enterprises  were  demanding  his  ut- 
most attention  during  the  panicky  and  commer- 
cially disastrous  months  of  the  spring  of  1861. 
His  best  energies,  however,  were  given  to  the 
needs  of  the  government.  It  had  no  credit  at 
the  first,  nor  money,  nor  lawful  means  of  obtain- 
ing money  or  men,  but  it  could  have  anything 
there  was  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Roberts.  It  was 
precisely  the  kind  of  support  needed  in  that 
hour  of  terrible  strain  and  peril.  It  came  from 
many  men,  of  many  kinds,  and  it  came  with  the 
strength  of  a  rising  tide.  Even  the  Bull  Run 
defeat  hardly  checked  it  for  a  moment.  After 
that,  however,  there  was  a  great  army  in  the  field 
and  many  fleets  upon  the  sea,  and  merchants, 
ship-owners,  like  Mr.  Roberts,  were  called  upon 
to  provide  and  carry  supplies  and  to  furnish 
transportations  under  due  forms  of  law  and  by 
16 


242  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

contract.  It  was  altogether  in  the  righteous 
process  of  events  that  the  merchant  who  had 
given  ships  and  carried  men  without  pay  should 
now  be  compensated  as  others,  and  should  be 
employed  to  his  uttermost  capacity.  The  patri- 
otic fulfilment  of  his  contracts  could  be  utterly 
relied  on,  and  he  received  and  performed  many. 
That  his  remuneration  was  very  large  before 
the  end  of  the  long  war  was  an  almost  inevitable 
consequence  not  looked  forward  to  by  him,  or 
by  anybody  else,  in  the  dark  hour  when  the  Star 
of  the  West  recoiled  from  before  the  Confeder- 
ate batteries  in  Charleston  Harbor. 

The  war  ended  and  the  hour  of  rejoicing  over, 
the  return  of  peace  was  darkened  by  the  assas- 
sination of  President  Lincoln.  The  feeling  of 
Mr.  Roberts,  to  whom  the  murdered  President 
had  been  a  personal  friend,  was  partly  expressed 
in  a  draft  for  ten  thousand  dollars  sent  to  the 
Lincoln  family. 

In  that  same  year,  1865,  Mr.  Roberts  was  the 
Republican  candidate  for  Mayor  of  New  York, 
but  was  defeated,  for  the  city  government  was 
overwhelmingly  under  the  control  of  the  political 
opposition.  There  were  especial  reasons  why 
he  was  himself  less  than  popular  with  certain 
classes.  Not  only  was  he  very  rich  and  lived  in 
a  magnificent  house,  but  he  had  always  been 
outspoken  in  his  views  concerning  every  form 
of  social  disorder.  Everybody  had  heard  the 
story  of  his  conduct  during  the  horrible  draft 
riots  of  1863.  It  was  easy  to  use  against  him 
the  fact  that  when  informed  that  a  detachment  of 


MARSHALL   OWEN  ROBERTS  243 

the  mob  was  coming  to  burn  one  of  his  steamers 
at  her  wharf,  he  obtained  a  brace  of  brass  can- 
non, loaded  them  to  the  muzzle  with  slugs  and 
grape-shot,  stationed  them  at  the  barricade  he 
built  across  the  pier,  and  waited  behind  them 
with  a  force  of  determined  men,  well  armed, 
ready  to  make  the  burning  of  that  vessel  a 
bloody  piece  of  work.  The  mob  heard  about  it 
and  did  not  come,  but  it  was  not  by  any  means 
forgotten,  nor  were  any  of  his  other  vehement 
declarations  on  behalf  of  law  and  order. 

One  of  his  earlier  enterprises  was  now  coming 
up  in  his  mind  in  another  form,  or  rather  in  sev- 
eral forms.  The  routes  to  California  had  been 
mightily  developed  both  by  land  and  sea,  but 
they  were  not  yet  perfected.  On  land  Mr. 
Roberts  advocated  the  construction  of  the  Texas 
&  Pacific  Railroad,  invested  two  millions  of 
dollars  in  the  enterprise,  and  induced  other 
capitalists  to  follow  his  example.  Of  the  water 
routes,  he  now  selected  the  old  Tehuautepec 
line,  over  which  Hernan  Cortes  had  marched  to 
the  Pacific,  and  proposed  to  construct  not  only 
a  railway,  but  a  ship  canal  from  shore  to  shore. 

This  was  but  part  of  a  scheme  which  included 
a  ship  canal  across  the  Florida  peninsula,  from  a 
point  on  the  St.  John's  River  to  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico. Much  money  was  expended  in  preliminary 
surveys,  a  company  was  formed,  its  stock  was 
ready  for  issue,  its  bonds  were  printed  and 
partly  signed  and  ready  for  the  American  and 
European  markets,  when,  in  September,  1873, 
the  great  panic  suddenly  swept  through  the 


244  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

financial  world,  and  all  such  schemes  were  shat- 
tered. 

The  losses  of  Mr.  Roberts .  were  enormous. 
He  owed  no  debts,  but  much  property  had  van- 
ished and  more  was  either  shrivelled  in  nominal 
value  or  made  temporarily  unavailable.  An- 
other man  might  have  contented  himself  with 
enforced  retirement  from  baffled  enterprises,  but 
there  was  an  especial  demand  upon  the  remain- 
ing financial  abilities  of  the  veteran  merchant. 
He  was  still  very  rich  and  numbers  of  his  old 
friends  were  in  trouble.  Sick,  suffering,  weary 
in  mind  and  broken  in  body,  he  came  out  from 
among  the  wrecks  of  his  shattered  schemes  to 
hold  up  the  men  who  had  been  his  friends  and 
business  associates,  until  the  storm  should  pass 
and  they  could  stand  alone.  It  passed,  and 
many  things  returned  to  their  former  condition, 
but  for  others  it  was  now  getting  too  late  in  the 
day.  There  were  minor  enterprises  to  which 
attention  could  be  given  by  Mr.  Roberts,  both 
in  the  United  States  and  the  Canadas,  but  they 
were  and  must  be  henceforth  mainly  in  the 
hands  of  other  men,  for  the  working  days  of  the 
old  merchant  were  over.  He  could  buy  pict- 
ures, encourage  artists,  help  neighbors,  but  he 
could  not  again  undertake  highways  across  the 
continent,  nor  steamship  lines  on  the  sea. 

His  charities  had  taken  permanent  forms  in 
several  instances,  notably  in  the  founding  of  the 
Women's  Christian  Association  and  in  the  Home 
for  Girls,  in  New  York  City.  His  treasured  gal- 
lery had  grown  around  the  germ  provided  by 


MARSHALL   OWEN  ROBERTS  245 

boyish  energy  and  economy,  until  it  contained 
pictures  whose  value  in  cash  was  over  three 
quarters  of  a  million  of  dollars.  He  had  gained 
all  that  he  had  ever  dreamed  of  gaining. 

The  end  came,  September  n,  1880,  at  Sara- 
toga. During  several  years  Mr.  Roberts  had 
lived  in  semi-retirement,  but  his  departure  called 
forth  universal  expressions  of  respect  and  regret. 
Nevertheless,  only  a  few  of  even  those  who 
from  time  to  time  had  seen  him  and  thought 
they  knew  him,  were  aware  how  very  remark- 
able a  character,  how  generous  and  brave  a  man, 
had  ceased  to  be  numbered  among  the  merchant 
princes  of  New  York. 


XIII. 
GEORGE   MORTIMER   PULLMAN. 

THE  world  contains  a  larger  population  than 
ever  before.  No  doubt  the  most  interesting 
illustration  of  the  increase  is  offered  by  the  com- 
posite millions  collected,  by  birth  or  immigra- 
tion, within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States, 
the  latest  constructed  of  the  nationalities  of  the 
first  rank.  A  study  of  the  American  people, 
grade  for  grade  and  class  for  class,  reveals  the 
fact  that  their  condition,  as  compared  with  cor- 
responding grades  and  classes  of  any  of  the  old- 
time  civilizations,  is  vastly  improved.  Every 
description  of  human  life  above  grovelling  pau- 
perism enjoys  more  and  more  varied  comfort 
and  a  more  plentiful  and  regular  support  than 
was  formerly  possible.  Very  similar  is  the  state 
of  things  to  be  discovered  in  most  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, and  to  a  less  degree  even  in  wide  areas  of 
Asia  under  European  control.  France,  for  in- 
stance, supports,  in  generally  prosperous  condi- 
tions, at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  four 
times  the  population  that  cpuld  with  difficulty 
be  kept  alive  upon  the  same  area  only  two  cen- 
turies earlier. 

Whatever  other  causes  may  be  credited  with 
any  share  in  the  manifest  increase  of  the  means 


^••B 

I 


i 


George   Mortimer  Pullman. 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN  247 

of  living,  one  is  admittedly  beyond  dispute.  It 
is  the  marvellous  increase  in  the  varied  occupa- 
tions provided  for  skill  and  labor,  that  is,  in  the 
employments  by  means  of  which  men  and  women 
earn  the  means  of  employing  other  men  and 
women.  It  has  been  unthinkingly  remarked 
that  we  have  more  needs  than  formerly,  that  new 
wants  have  been  created  for  us,  and  that  so  our 
modern  life  is  artificial,  as  compared  with  the 
half-starved  simplicity  of  the  ancient  times.  It 
is  very  much  more  near  the  truth  to  reply  that 
the  wants  of  human  nature  have  been  discovered, 
step  by  step,  like  new  lands  lying  westward,  and 
that  each  newly  found  need  and  its  provision 
has  led  on  to  other  discoveries.  Sure  it  is  that 
but  for  the  men  who  have  opened  new  channels 
for  industry,  new  employments  for  busy  thou- 
sands, the  unemployed  multitudes  must  perish. 
Each  of  these  men  is,  therefore,  in  his  place,  a 
public  benefactor.  He  is  so  even  more  dis- 
tinctly than  the  man  who  attains  success,  how- 
ever eminent,  in  handling  or  directing  means  of 
occupation  already  created.  He  is  so  in  a  yet 
higher  degree,  if  the  new  ideas  by  which  he 
operates  and  the  new  occupations  which  are 
provided  are  themselves  in  the  line  of  social  ad- 
vancement and  elevation.  It  is  not  always, 
however,  that  the  originator  adds  to  his  inven- 
tive genius  the  administrative  and  other  busi- 
ness faculties  to  be  the  master-machinist  and 
supervising  architect  of  his  own  plans. 

George  Mortimer   Pullman  was  born  upon  a 
farm  in  Chautauqua  County,  New  York,  March 


248  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

3,  1831.  His  family  were  in  moderate  circum- 
stances and  were  able  to  give  him  no  more  edu- 
cational advantages  than  Avere  provided  by  the 
local  schools.  These,  however,  were  of  good 
quality.  His  home  training  was  such  as  to  aid 
him  in  the  formation  of  fixed  habits  of  industry 
and  firmly  settled  principles  of  morality  and  in- 
tegrity. While  not  large  in  frame,  he  possessed 
an  unusual  degree  of  bodily  toughness  and  ac- 
tivity, which  was  well  developed  by  the  whole- 
some work  belonging  to  the  daily  "  chores " 
of  a  farmer's  boy.  On  the  whole,  his  primary 
schooling  of  all  sorts  was  peculiarly  well  de- 
vised for  the  kind  of  life  before  him.  At  the 
early  age  ot  fourteen  he  began  to  look  out 
for  himself,  and  his  first  service  was  as  boy- 
of-all-work  in  a  country  store.  At  seventeen 
he  went  to  Albion,  N.  Y.,  where  an  older 
brother  was  already  established  in  the  cabinet- 
making  business.  Here  a  very  important  ap- 
prenticeship was  served,  for  he  learned  what 
could  be  done  usefully  and  ornamentally  with 
wood  and  woven  fabrics,  and  obtained  ideas 
concerning  the  art  and  the  varied  appliances  of 
upholstering.  All  was  to  be  of  use  to  him  at  a 
later  day,  but  with  his  lessons  in  taste  and  the 
like  he  acquired  much  information  of  another 
kind.  He  learned  something  of  engineering  and 
mechanics,  and  through  a  series  of  minor  expe- 
riences he  acquired  strong  confidence  in  his  own 
ability  for  devising  mechanical  ways  and  means. 
He  even  prospered  pecuniarily,  through  constant 
thrift  and  industry,  so  that  upon  becoming  of 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN  249 

age  he  had  a  few  dollars  of  his  own  to  begin 
business  with. 

The  first  good  opportunity  did  not  present 
itself  until  a  year  later,  but  it  was  coming  and 
he  was  preparing  for  it.  The  Erie  Canal  was  in 
process  of  widening.  The  buildings  of  all  sorts 
which  had  been  put  up  along  the  margins  of 
what  was  at  first  derisively  described  as  DeWitt 
Clinton's  Ditch  were  to  be  torn  down  or  moved 
away.  Many  of  them  manifestly  called  for  the 
former  process,  but  there  were  considerable 
warehouses  of  brick  as  well  as  of  wood  that  were 
worth  saving,  and  young  Pullman  made  con- 
tracts for  their  transfer  to  new  positions.  The 
operation  was  less  hazardous  than  it  seemed, 
and  his  complete  success  not  only  rewarded 
him  pecuniarily,  but  gave  him  experience  and  a 
record  which  was  shortly  to  be  of  great  value. 
Contract  followed  contract,  and  Mr.  Pullman  was 
doing  very  well  in  other  ways  than  house-mov- 
ing, but  this  was  for  the  time  his  specialty,  and 
the  great  field  for  it  was  not  in  New  York.  At 
the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan  a  new  city  had  sprung 
up  with  such  rapidity  that  it  was  there  before 
any  suitable  arrangements  had  been  made  for  it. 
Its  lower  floors  were  but  little,  in  some  places  not 
at  all,  above  the  level  of  the  lake,  and  so  Chicago 
could  have  no  sewers.  It  was  necessary  to  be- 
gin again,  and  the  entire  place  must  be  lifted 
several  feet.  There  were  great  blocks  of  busi- 
ness buildings,  brick  or  stone,  which  must  be 
held  up  while  new  cellars  and  foundations  were 
put  under  them.  Through  the  earlier  stages  of 


250  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

the  process  Mr.  Pullman's  business  detained 
him  in  New  York,  but  in  1859  ne  removed  to 
Chicago  to  take  his  share  in  the  general  marvel 
of  new-city  engineering.  He  had,  however,  an- 
other idea  growing  in  his  mind,  and  had  already 
begun  a  series  of  practical  experiments  for  its 
accomplishment. 

The  railroad  system  of  the  United  States  was 
yet  in  the  first  stages  of  its  development.  It  had 
begun  timidly,  experimentally,  with  short  lines 
between  important  places,  and  its  management 
had  been  marked,  as  a  rule,  by  the  most  per- 
nicious economy.  It  is  true  that  improvement 
began  at  once,  for  the  first  American  locomo- 
tives, designed  and  built  by  Peter  Cooper  at 
Baltimore,  were  especially  adapted  to  American 
roads.  The  primitive  "  strap  "  rail,  spiked  upon 
a  log,  had  given  place  to  the  T  heavy  rail.  The 
later  cars  were  not  altogether  so  uncomfortable 
as  were  the  travelling  cribs  to  which  the  term 
"  hyena  "  had  somehow  attached.  The  process 
of  consolidation  had  begun,  for  the  seven  roads 
across  middle  New  York,  for  instance,  had 
become  one  corporation,  as  the  New  York 
Central.  The  extension  of  Western  lines  was 
going  on  rapidly  and  the  days  of  "  long-dis- 
tance "  railroading  were  at  hand.  For  that 
reason  so  were  the  days  of  express  companies, 
through-freight  lines,  and  improved  passenger 
cars,  up  to  this  time  impossible. 

During  the  year  1858  Mr.  Pullman's  attention 
had  been  especially  drawn  to  the  long-distance 
sleeping-car  idea.  He  had  often  enough  seen 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN  251 

such  as  were  in  use,  but  one  comfortless  night, 
during  a  sixty-mile  ride  from  Buffalo  to  West- 
field,  he  was  forced  to  lie  awake  and  consider 
the  defects  of  such  machines  as  he  was  carried 
in.  They  were  indeed  unsatisfactory  affairs,  for 
they  were  nothing  but  enlarged  copies  of  the 
night-bunks  in  the  passenger  boats  of  the  Erie 
Canal,  three  tiers  of  shelves  on  each  side  of  the 
car.  They  were  to  be  slept  in  as  a  rule,  and  if 
passengers  were  wise,  without  too  much  un- 
dressing. They  were  peculiarly  easy  to  get  out 
of  in  going  around  sharp  curves  or  aided  by  the 
sudden  oscillations  of  cars  with  imperfect  springs 
on  badly  ballasted  roads. 

The  thoughts  which  began  to  germinate  dur- 
ing that  night  ride,  or  earlier,  did  not  come  up 
into  sight  until  the  following  year.  After  Mr. 
Pullman  entered  upon  his  Chicago  business  he 
continued  to  study  the  subject.  He  began  a 
series  of  preliminary  experiments  by  remodel- 
ling two  day -coaches  on  the  Chicago  &  Alton 
Road,  and  afterward  did  the  same  on  the  old 
Galena  Road.  He  met  with  very  little  encour- 
agement, for  in  a  very  strict  use  of  the  word  he 
was  a  pioneer.  The  sleeping-cars  in  use  were 
invariably  the  property  of  the  road  they  ran  on, 
and  their  trips  were  limited  to  its  own  rails. 
The  fares  charged  varied  from  fifty  cents  a 
berth,  or  a  dollar  for  a  double  berth,  to  a  dollar 
and  a  half  on  longer  runs,  but  they  were  not  re- 
garded as  especially  profitable.  The  simple  fact 
was  that  no  attention  had  been  given  to  the  idea 
of  making  long-distance  railroading  enjoyable. 


252  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

Its  fatigues,  discomforts,  positive  miseries,  its 
detriments  to  health  and  its  waste  of  working- 
energies,  had  been  accepted  as  unavoidable,  as 
mere  matters  of  course.  A  long  journey  was 
known  to  be  a  long  suffering,  and  its  martyrs 
must  endure  to  the  end,  unless  they  should  die 
on  the  way. 

An  entirely  different  conception  of  the  future 
of  American  passenger  transportation  had  now 
taken  possession  of  Mr.  Pullman.  With  only 
limited  mechanical  skill,  he  had  acquired  a  large 
fund  of  varied  mechanical  knowledge,  much  of 
which,  beginning  with  the  Albion  cabinet-mak- 
ing shop,  was  in  the  direct  line  of  his  proposed 
invention.  He  did  his  part  in  the  elevation  of 
Chicago  to  its  new  level,  adding  considerably  to 
the  capital  required  for  other  undertakings,  but 
it  was  1863  before  he  was  ready  to  elevate  him- 
self entirely  to  his  new  enterprise. 

A  suitable  shop  was  now  hired,  a  competent 
master-mechanic  was  employed,  with  skilled 
workmen  under  him,  and  they  began  the  some- 
what tedious  task  of  constructing  a  new  car  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  a  man  whose  concep- 
tion of  what  it  should  be  grew  while  it  was 
building.  He  gave  all  the  details  his  personal, 
constant  supervision  during  long  months  of  toil. 
The  changes  were  radical,  for  he  was  not  think- 
ing merely  of  show. 

The  steadiness  required  for  sleep  was  to  be 
obtained  by  powerful  springs  upon  trucks  with 
sixteen  wheels,  altogether  an  innovation.  As  to 
the  beds,  they  were  to  be  as  those  of  a  good 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN 


253 


hotel,  and  the  general  outfit  was  to  be  that  of  a 
drawing-room.  Only  a  faint  idea  of  the  im- 
provement was  ex- 
pressed by  the  fact 
that  while  one  of 
the  old  "  rattlers  " 
cost  $4,000,  Car  A, 
the  "  Pioneer  "  of 
the  Pullman  cars, 
cost  $18,000.  Oth- 
er men  called  it 
uselessly  extrava- 
gant, but  in  his 
eyes  it  was  only 
too  .plain,  and  it 
still  lacked  many 
of  the  conveni- 
ences belonging  to 
the  cars  which 
were  building  in 
his  mind.  Relief 
from  fatigue ;  pure 
air  secured  by 
good  ventilation ; 
greater  safety  of 
life  and  limb  from 
accidents;  person- 
al cleanliness; 
special  care  of  pas- 
sengers in  need  of 
care ;  refreshments  by  the  way,  and  at  last  a 
complete  hotel  on  wheels,  rolling  on  over  road 
after  road,  across  the  continent,  after  roads  and 


254:  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

bridges  should  be  provided  ;  all  was  taking  form, 
as  the  advantages  and  defects  of  the  pioneer  car 
were  studied,  from  day  to  day. 

Other  people  were  examining  the  matter,  es- 
pecially railroad  men,  and  the  president  of  the 
Michigan  Central  Road,  Mr.  James  F.  Joy,  was 
nearly  willing  to  try  the  experiment  on  his  own 
line.  With  a  view  to  this,  Mr.  Pullman  con- 
structed four  more  cars,  but  each  of  these  cost 
$24,000,  and  even  Mr.  Joy  was  startled  by  such 
manifest  extravagance.  It  would  divert  travel 
from  his  road  if  so  high  a  rate  as  $2  per  berth 
were  charged  upon  its  sleeping-cars.  In  re- 
ply to  his  objection,  Mr.  Pullman  put  in  verbal 
shape  one  of  the  leading  ideas  of  his  business 
career,  that  the  best  was  really  the  cheapest,  and 
that  all  people  were  willing  to  pay  for  it  if  they 
could  get  it.  The  dispute  ended  in  a  compro- 
mise, for  the  new  cars  were  put  upon  trial  on 
the  road,  each  with  one  of  the  cheaper  cars  for  a 
running  mate.  The  problem  was  solved  in  a 
few  weeks,  for  the  old  cars  were  always  empty 
until  the  new  were  filled,  and  the  public  loudly 
expressed  the  disgust  occasioned  by  the  unpleas- 
ant comparison.  Mr.  Pullman  had  undoubtedly 
made  a  great  invention,  but  it  was  one  for  which 
there  was  manifestly  no  patent.  He  could  not 
hope,  men  said,  to  obtain  a  monopoly  of  the  con- 
struction of  his  magnificent  cars.  Each  road 
might  build  its  own  and  run  them.  Each  car- 
constructing  concern  would  be  a  rival  in  the 
business.  It  would,  after  all,  be  limited.  Only 
a  few  roads  would  undertake  so  great  an  inno- 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN  255 

vation.  The  idea  was  good  enough,  but  there 
was  no  money  in  it.  It  was  absurd  to  suppose 
that  one  central  concern  would  be  permitted  to 
manage  the  sleeping-car  service  of  any  consider- 
able part  of  the  roads  in  the  country.  Numerous, 
indeed,  were  the  cavils  and  objections  which  Mr. 
Pullman  was  compelled  to  meet  when  he  made 
his  next  step  forward.  He  could  see,  and  won- 
dered that  others  could  not,  that  the  very  nat- 
ure of  long-distance  railroading  rendered  neces- 
sary a  consolidation  of  the  sleeping-car  interests. 
There  might  be,  probably  would  be,  indepen- 
dent builders  and  independent  lines,  but  to  all 
these  would  surely  apply  the  severe  doctrine  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

There  were  several  points  in  favor  of  Mr.  Pull- 
man's comprehensive  scheme  from  the  outset, 
whatever  were  the  obstacles.  He  had  been  able 
to  try  his  preliminary  experiments  at  his  own 
expense,  without  losing  control  of  the  subse- 
quent operations  by  selling  "  interests  "  at  too 
early  a  day.  He  was,  therefore,  the  one-man 
power,  unhindered. 

The  size  of  the  country  and  the  length  of  its 
railway  journeys  was  like  a  permanent  founda- 
tion for  his  enterprise.  The  very  refusal  of  other 
men,  at  first,  to  see  as  he  did,  kept  the  field  clear 
for  his  operations  until  he  had  securely  occupied 
it.  Added  to  all  this,  and  utilizing  it,  was  his 
own  personal  character  and  capacity.  His  ad- 
ministrative faculties  were  of  a  high  order,  fit- 
ting him  for  the  selection  and  direction  of  ca- 
pable associates  and  subordinates.  His  inven- 


256  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

tive  power  enabled  him  to  respond  to  each  dis- 
covered requirement  with  some  sufficient  device, 
and  of  these  inventions  a  number  were  patent- 
able,  protecting  him  to  an  important  extent  from 
rivalries  and  interferences.  Hardly  of  less  im- 
portance were  his  singular  steadiness,  freedom 
from  the  fever  of  speculation  or  mere  money- 
getting  ;  patience  under  difficulties,  and  entire 
devotion  to  his  business  for  its  own  sake.  It 
was  to  be  his  life-work,  and  he  was  conscientious- 
ly determined  to  do  it  well. 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  form  or  give  an  ade- 
quate idea  of  the  diplomacy,  tact,  energy,  or 
financial  ability  displayed  in  the  operations  fol- 
lowing the  first  success  of  1863.  Mr.  Pullman 
almost  lived  on  the  railroads,  as  he  went  from 
one  to  another,  without  a  car  of  his  own  making 
to  travel  in.  It  was  well  for  him  that  his  natural 
toughness  had  become  increased  rather  than  di- 
minished in  his  ripe  manhood.  He  was  at  this 
time  very  well  fitted  for  the  kind  of  diplomacy 
he  was  engaged  in,  with  railway  managers,  finan- 
ciers, even  politicians,  statesmen,  and  their  het- 
erogeneous associates.  He  was  a  quiet  man, 
of  courteous  manners,  always  well  dressed  and 
always  apparently  in  good  humor.  He  was  a 
good  talker,  with  an  excellent  faculty  for  making 
other  men  talk  and  for  listening  well,  and  he 
never  seemed  to  be  tired. 

Success  came  step  by  step,  and  the  Pullman 
cars  were  an  acknowledged  institution  of  Amer- 
ican railway  travel.  Year  after  year  invention 
after  invention,  comfort  after  comfort,  the  ideas 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN  257 

of  the  inventor  and  manager,  were  made  to  take 
shape  in  wood  and  metal  or  other  fabrics,  or  in 
the  personal  service  of  the  system. 

Yet  another  invention,  however,  had  been 
growing  toward  completeness  in  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Pullman.  He  had  established  a  successful 
manufacturing  company,  and  it  had  shops  at 
St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  Elmira,  N.  Y. ;  Detroit,  Mich., 
and  Wilmington,  Dei.  It  could  command  a  great 
deal  of  assistance,  in  cases  of  need,  from  other 
manufacturers,  but  all  was  not  enough  to  keep 
pace  with  the  swift  growth  of  the  demand.  It 
was  with  reference  to  this  necessity  for  larger 
and  better  shops  and  their  workmen  that  Mr. 
Pullman  made  his  next  achievement,  for  he  in- 
vented a  new  town  and  proceeded  with  its  con- 
struction very  much  as,  in  1863,  he  had  put 
together  the  Pioneer. 

With  reference  to  all  the  objects  proposed,  the 
best  attainable  locality  for  a  new  town  would  be 
in  or  near  Chicago,  but  the  selling  price  of  every 
acre  of  land  in  that  vicinity  had  been  fixed  with 
reference  to  the  values  of  the  time  to  come.  An 
attempt  to  purchase  any  considerable  area  would 
surely  cause  a  speculative  advance,  and  so  the 
entire  project  was  kept  secret  while  a  cautious 
purchasing  process  went  on  through  another 
hand  than  Mr.  Pullman's.  The  spot  chosen  was 
well  beyond  the  city  limits,  as  they  were  in  1879, 
on  the  shore  of  Calumet  Lake.  About  thirty- 
five  hundred  acres  of  bare  prairie  were  at  last 
secured,  at  an  outlay  of  less  than  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  then,  in  1880,  the  work  of 

17 


258  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

construction  began.  The  Chicago  experience 
was  not  to  be  repeated,  for  the  first  thing  at- 
tended to  was  the  establishment  of  a  permanent 
"  grade,"  sufficiently  above  the  original  prairie 
and  lake  levels  to  provide  for  a  system  of  drain- 
age. The  sewers  came  first,  with  a  force  of  four 
thousand  men  to  put  them  in  place.  Then  came 
the  water-mains  and  the  other  piping  for  which 
it  is  customary  to  tear  up  city  thoroughfares  so 
extensively.  The  streets  and  avenues  were  then 
put  on,  and  along  the  lines  of  these  lay  the  orig- 
inal levels,  ready  to  be  cut  up  into  cellars  and 
filled  up  for  back-yards  and  ornamental  grounds, 
as  occasion  might  require.  Of  course,  Mr.  Pull- 
man called  in  the  best  architectural  and  other 
trained  ability  that  he  could  obtain ;  but  no  other 
American  town  was  ever  created  in  precisely 
this  manner.  Perhaps  as  near  a  historical  par- 
allel as  any  is  that  furnished  by  the  Egyptian 
seaport  called  into  existence  by  the  far-seeing 
genius  of  Alexander. 

Every  shop  previously  put  up  elsewhere  for 
the  operations  of  the  Pullman  Company  had  been 
as  an  experiment,  providing  valuable  suggestions 
which  were  to  be  availed  of  now.  No  part  of 
them  had  been  of  more  evident  importance  than 
were  such  as  related  to  the  personal  character 
and  conduct  of  the  force  of  workingmen  to  be 
employed.  It  was  to  this,  therefore,  that  Mr. 
Pullman's  inventions  largely  related.  It  was  to 
be  a  town  whose  inhabitants  should  govern 
themselves  in  the  direction  of  good  morals,  in- 
telligence, and  prosperity.  The  very  proposition 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN  259 

seemed  to  be  ridiculous,  but  so  had  been  the 
palace  sleeping-car  and  travelling-hotel  system, 
until  its  success  revolutionized  long-distance  rail- 
way travel.  The  idea  of  the  new  town  was  to 
be  the  same — that  men  and  women  were  quite 
willing  to  have  the  best  things  if  they  could  get 
them  at  reasonable  prices.  Nothing  was  to  be 
given  away.  The  false  charity  which  fosters 
any  kind  of  pauperism  was  to  be  shunned  as  a 
positive  evil.  Anything  approaching  the  "  pater- 
nal" or  lord  of  the  manor  supervision  of  free 
Americans  was  to  be  studiously  avoided.  The 
best  opportunities  for  industry  and  thrift  were 
to  be  provided,  but  personal  independence  and 
responsibility  were  not  to  be  interfered  with. 

The  domain  of  the  Pullman  Company,  the 
nucleus  of  the  proposed  city,  was  not  to  be  sold 
at  any  price,  but  to  remain  under  absolute  con- 
trol, for  here  the  prevailing  tone  and  character 
was  to  be  established. 

Shops  for  the  manufacture  of  all  kinds  of  rail- 
way cars  and  their  outfits  were  put  up  rapidly 
but  very  solidly.  So  were  admirably  planned 
dwellings,  separate  or  in  flats,  homes  or  board- 
ing-houses for  workers.  Stores  and  workshops  of 
all  varieties  common  in  an  American  town  were 
provided.  In  all,  the  useful  and  the  attractive 
were  equally  sought  for,  both  in  the  buildings 
and  their  surroundings.  Leases  were  given  to 
acceptable  occupants,  each  lease  terminable  upon 
ten  days'  notice  on  either  side.  A  dissatisfied 
tenant,  or  one  for  any  reason  disposed  to  change, 
was  not  bound  to  remain.  On  the  other  hand, 


260  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

no  structure  owned  by  the  company  could  be 
used  for  detrimental  purposes.  No  worthy  ten- 
ant has  ever  been  disturbed,  but  a  remarkable 
result  has  been  obtained,  for  here  is  now  a  town 
of  twelve  thousand  inhabitants  in  which  there  is 
no  drinking-saloon  nor  one  house  of  ill  repute. 

Among  the  first  buildings  erected  were  two 
churches,  but  these  were  not  "  given  "  to  the  con- 
gregations meeting  in  them.  Their  use  is  paid 
for.  Only  the  public  library,  now  of  about  eight 
thousand  volumes,  is  the  individual  gift  of  Mr. 
Pullman,  that  it  might  be  selected  upon  rational 
principles  and  not  collected  hit  or  miss  and  lum- 
bered with  unreadable  rubbish. 

There  are  grounds  for  athletic  sports,  a  great 
"  arcade  "  building  for  general  shopping,  an  ad- 
mirable market  building,  a  public  school-house 
attended  by  over  a  thousand  scholars,  and  at 
every  turn  an  observer  is  compelled  to  acknowl- 
edge the  operation  of  intelligent  design,  provid- 
ing for  the  present  and  the  future  by  omitting 
the  chance-medley  blunders  of  the  past  in  other 
town-makings. 

A  channel,  now  dredging  to  the  depth  re- 
quired, will  shortly  make  Calumet  Lake  a  harbor 
of  the  great  lake  system,  and  Pullman  will  be  a 
port  of  entry.  Outside  of  the  original  area  a 
continual  building  goes  on,  in  strict  relation  to 
the  founder's  plan,  excepting  that  here  over  a 
thousand  dwellings  are  owned  by  workmen  in 
the  employ  of  the  company. 

It  was  in  the  primal  idea  that  good  wages 
should  be  paid,  that  all  rents  should  be  reason- 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN 


261 


ably  low,  that  food  -  supplies  should  be  of  the 
best  and  at  fair  prices,  but  there  was  something 
more  than  this.  Mr.  Pullman  believed  that  his 
cars  were  an  educational  agency,  positively  im- 
proving the  tone  of  the  people  who  rode  in  them 
by  the  influence  of  surroundings. 
In  like  manner  he  sought  to  foster 
self-respect  among  the  inhabitants 
of  his  town.  Whatever  work  they 
might  do  to  earn  their  wages,  the 
place  they  lived  in  must  show 
them  nothing  unsightly  or  un- 


£•: 


A  View  of  Pullman,  III. 

clean  or  pernicious,  so  far  as  he  could  prevent 
it.  Beauty,  order,  convenience  were  to  be  con- 
tinual teachers,  and  their  opposites  were  at  least 
to  be  crippled. 

After  a  dozen  years  of  practical  working,  the 
question  of  the  success  of  the  invention  is  partly 
answered  in  figures.  Of  the  twelve  thousand  in- 
habitants, 6,324  are  employed  by  the  company. 
The  average  wages  of  these,  including  boys  and 
women,  are  $2.26  per  day.  They  have  deposits 
amounting  to  $632,000  in  the  savings  bank,  or  an 
average  of  $3 16  to  each  person.  The  eight  miles  of 


262  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

paved  streets  in  the  town  of  Pullman  are  scrupu- 
lously clean,  and  so  is  its  moral  character,  and 
workmen  from  its  shops  are  sought  for  as  men 
who  have  a  well-known  certificate. 

The  car-shops  are  by  no  means  the  only  indus- 
try created.  For  instance,  the  clay  under  the 
lake  makes  excellent  bricks,  and  thirty  million 
of  these  are  manufactured  per  annum. 

Considered  financially,  the  business  success  of 
Mr.  Pullman  is  hardly  exceeded  by  that  of  any 
other  living  man.  Other  men  are  his  peers  in 
railway  enterprises  or  exceed  him  in  accumulated 
wealth,  but  the  distinguishing  feature  of  his  own 
achievement  is  its  originality.  He  saw  a  coming 
demand,  merely  germinal  at  the  beginning,  and 
he  developed  it  by  the  manner  in  which  he  sup- 
plied it.  There  is  no  other  business  career  offer- 
ing an  exact  parallel.  As  to  numerical  illustra- 
tions, the  gross  earnings  of  the  company  in  its 
first  fiscal  year  were  $280,000,  while  for  1891-92 
they  were  $10,002,356.04.  Its  dividends  were 
$2,300,000,  and  it  added  $3,250,389  to  its  surplus 
fund.  Upon  all  its  roads  the  company  employs 
2,512  sleeping-,  parlor-,  and  dining-cars,  but  this 
does  not  include  some  that  are  running  in  other 
lands,  for  instance,  upon  the  roads  of  Australia. 
During  the  year  ending  July  i,  1892,  Pullman 
cars  carried  5,279,320  passengers,  and  the  rates 
of  speed,  the  safety,  and  the  comfort  must  be 
made  factors  in  any  estimate  of  the  indicated  use. 
The  number  of  miles  run  was  191,255,656,  which 
means  that  one  Pullman  car  doing  it  all  could 
have  visited  the  sun  and  returned,  and  then 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN  263 

gone  more  than  half-way  around  the  earth. 
The  longest  regular,  unbroken  run  made  by 
Pullman  cars,  however,  is  that  of  4,332  miles, 
from  Boston  to  Los  Angeles. 

The  shop-town  of  Pullman  and  the  palace- 
hotel-car  system,  taken  together,  present  an  ex- 
ceedingly readable  illustration  of  the  great  mar- 
vel of  human  life  and  work :  that  is,  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  a  mental  picture,  a  conception, 
arising  in  the  mind  of  a  capable  man,  may  be 
brought  out  and  put  into  material  shape  for  the 
lasting  benefit  of  other  men. 


XIV. 
PETER  COOPER. 

A  GREAT  evil,  not  unmixed  with  good,  to  the 
great  mass  of  the  world's  labor  force  is  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  has  seemed  forced  to  move  on 
along  unchanging  grooves,  the  deeply  worn  ruts 
of  old-time  travel.  Among  Oriental  nations,  to 
this  day,  we  see  the  most  perfect  illustrations  of 
a  tendency  which  divides  labor,  and  with  it  life, 
into  fixed  strata,  which  are  castes  in  one  place 
and  guilds  in  another.  The  specific  faculties  of 
varied  trades,  as  well  as  the  individual  right  to 
live  by  them,  are  declared  an  inheritance,  de- 
scending from  father  to  son.  In  other  parts  of 
the  world — in  Europe,  for  instance — there  is  a 
plainly  related  state  of  things  and  there  is  an 
evident  danger  of  its  importation  to  this  coun- 
try. Already  we  have  the  guilds,  in  one  form 
or  another,  with  a  manifest  caricature  of  the 
castes,  and  outside  of  them  we  have  an  increas- 
ing multitude  of  pariahs  destitute  of  trade  con- 
nections. It  was  not  so  in  the  beginning  of  our 
national  work;  is  not  so  now  in  our  recently 
formed  communities,  and  it  is  one  of  the  fossil- 
isms  which  we  do  not  need  to  copy  from  either 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  Hindoos,  or  the  Chinese. 

Another  illustration  of  the  same  natural  ten- 


Peter  Coope 


PETER  COOPER  265 

dency,  or  caused  by  the  long  operation  of  the 
indicated  evil,  is  seen  in  the  helplessness  with 
which  the  lives  of  so  many  men  run  in  their  ac- 
cidental trades  or  occupations  as  on  tramways, 
outside  of  which  they  can  hardly  run  at  all.  A 
contrast,  if  he  is  not  also  a  result,  is  furnished  by 
the  not  uncommon  character  of  whom  it  is  said 
that  he  is  Jack  of  all  trades  and  master  of  none. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  well  understood  advantage 
to  be  obtained  by  persistent  devotion  to  one 
wisely  chosen  field  of  thought  and  action,  even 
if  the  worker  in  it  believes  both  himself  and  his 
field  to  be  narrowly  fenced  in.  The  men  are  few 
whose  natural  capacities  include  that  of  a  gen- 
eral adaptability  in  any  high  degree. 

The  changing  conditions  and  the  rapid  growth 
of  our  own  country  have  presented  innumerable 
object-lessons  in  successes  and  in  failures.  It 
has  been  proved  to  be  a  sufficiently  general  rule 
that  a  man  going  into  a  new  place  will  do  well 
to  take  his  trade  with  him,  if  he  really  has  one, 
and  with  it  a  species  of  watchful  inquiry  as  to 
what  it  can  be  improved  into  or  changed  for. 

Strictly  in  accordance  with  the  rule  is  the  ap- 
pearance, here  and  there,  of  men  for  whom  each 
new  set  of  circumstances  seems  to  call  up  and 
set  in  motion  within  them  something  which  had 
not  previously  presented  itself,  but  which  meets 
the  demands  of  the  occasion.  They  add  to  their 
other  capacities  the  genius  of  versatility  and  so 
are  able  to  win  success  among  changing  condi- 
tions. 

Peter  Cooper  was  born  February  12,  1791,  in 


266  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

the  city  of  New  York.  This  was,  at  that  date, 
a  fairly  thriving  community  and  was  beginning 
to  recover  from  the  disasters  which  had  befallen 
it,  as  a  garrisoned  military  post,  during  the  long 
years  of  the  war  for  independence.  It  had  very 
few  manufactures,  however,  and  all  business 
affairs  were  conducted  under  serious  disadvan- 
tages, owing  to  the  disordered  condition  of  com- 
merce and  the  absence  of  a  stable  or  uniform 
currency. 

Peter's  father  had  been  a  hatter  before  the 
war,  but  had  left  his  trade  to  serve  in  the  Conti- 
nental army,  rising  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  It 
was  a  patriotic  family,  for  Peter's  grandfather 
also  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution.  On  his 
mother's  side  the  same  honorable  record  was 
made.  Her  father,  John  Campbell,  a  successful 
potter  and  at  one  time  an  alderman  of  the  city, 
left  all  to  serve  his  country  as  a  deputy  quarter- 
master-general, and  there  was  no  more  difficult 
post  to  fill  among  the  forces  under  Washington. 
From  first  to  last  their  most  dangerous  enemy 
was  famine,  rather  than  the  British.  It  is  related 
that  Mr.  Campbell's  cash  advances  for  army  sup- 
plies, to  a  considerable  amount,  were  refunded 
to  him  at  last  in  Continental  currency — waste- 
paper.  It  was  owing  to  the  war,  therefore,  that 
the  Cooper  family  was  anything  but  prosperous. 
The  returned  soldier  tried  to  be  again  a  hatter, 
under  difficulties,  and  his  little  son  began  to  earn 
something  as  soon  as  his  head  had  risen  to  the 
level  of  a  work-bench.  His  earliest  memory  of 
that  "  hard  time  "  was  of  pulling  hair  from  rab- 


PETER   COOPER  267 

bit  skins,  with  some  uncertainty  remaining  as  to 
what  it  was  for.  Men  with  larger  capital  and 
better  relations  to  the  fur  trade  absorbed  the 
hatter  business,  and  Mr.  Cooper  removed  to 
Peekskill.  He  had  some  knowledge  of  the  brew- 
ing business  and  set  up  a  small  brewery,  but 
Peter's  schooling  was  sadly  interfered  with  by 
the  duty  now  upon  him  of  delivering  the  full  ale- 
kegs  to  customers  and  bringing  home  the  empty 
ones.  The  results  of  this  experiment  were  dis- 
couraging and  there  was  another  removal  to 
Catskill,  where  occasional  employment  as  a 
hatter  could  be  alternated  with  brick-making. 
Peter  was  getting  older  and  stronger  now,  and 
could  carry  and  turn  bricks,  but  there  was  no 
great  market  for  them,  nor  much  profit  in  their 
manufacture.  There  is  something  pathetic  in 
the  bald  outlines  preserved  of  the  successive 
struggles  of  the  old  Continental  soldier  to 
maintain  his  family.  The  next  removal  was  to 
Brooklyn,  where  the  hatter's  trade  was  once 
more  resorted  to  for  a  while,  and  then  there 
was  another  change,  for  a  brewery  was  set  up  at 
Newburg,  and  Peter  did  not  go  to  work  in  it. 

He  was  now,  in  the  year  1808,  seventeen  years 
of  age,  and  his  entire  schooling  was  measured 
by  half-days  of  attendance  at  common  schools, 
such  as  they  were,  during  one  year.  How 
deeply  he  felt,  then  and  afterward,  the  lack  of 
the  teaching  and  discipline  obtained  by  others 
he  was  yet  to  record  for  the  benefit  of  thousands. 
Without  teachers  or  books,  however,  the  shifting 
toil  and  trial  of  his  earlier  years  had  aroused  and 


268  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

developed  some  of  his  faculties  to  a  remarkable 
degree.  He  was  now  apprenticed,  until  he  should 
become  of  age,  to  John  Woodward,  a  carriage- 
maker,  to  learn  the  trade,  but  he  did  much  more 
than  that.  He  at  once  began  to  see  and  to 
remedy  the  defective  nature  of  the  very  tools  he 
was  taught  the  use  of.  The  days  of  labor-saving 
machinery  were  but  just  beginning  and  there 
was  abundant  room  for  improvements  in  almost 
any  direction.  Peter  Cooper  was  still  a  mere 
apprentice-boy,  when  he  invented  a  machine  for 
mortising  hubs  of  wagon-wheels.  The  profit  ac- 
crued to  his  employer  rather  than  to  himself, 
but  at  the  expiration  of  the  apprenticeship,  in 
1812,  Mr.  Woodward  proposed  to  continue  him  in 
the  carriage  business.  Neither  the  terms  nor  the 
prospect  were  satisfactory,  however,  and  young 
Cooper  had  seen  yet  another  machine  which  had 
aroused  his  interest.  It  was  an  improvement  in 
cloth-shearing  machinery,  and  there  was  a  sudden 
impulse  given  at  that  time  to  the  cloth  industry 
of  the  United  States,  for  foreign  goods  were  shut 
out  by  the  war  with  England.  Cooper  settled  at 
Hempstead,  Long  Island,  to  engage  in  the  manu- 
facture of  the  new  machines,  and  he  met  with  ex- 
cellent success.  He  made  money  enough  to  buy 
the  right  for  the  entire  State  ;  he  added  important 
improvements  of  his  own  invention,  and  he  mar- 
ried Sarah  Bedell,  of  Hempstead,  who  was  to  be 
his  invaluable  partner  and  helper  during  fifty-two 
years  that  followed. 

The  war  with  England  came  to  an  end,  and  the 
importation  of  British  goods,  renewed  after  so 


PETER  COOPER  269 

long  a  suspension,  very  nearly  ruined  the  young 
manufactures  of  the  United  States.  There  was 
to  be  no  more  demand  for  the  shearing  machines, 
but  the  shop  was  there,  with  many  appliances, 
which  made  it  easy  for  a  keen  inventor  to  change 
it  into  a  small  factory  of  cabinet-ware  and  furni- 
ture. By  doing  so,  the  severest  losses  threatened 
by  the  return  of  peace  and  of  British  competition 
were  avoided.  Nevertheless,  it  was  plain  that 
nothing  important  could  be  accomplished  by  a 
cabinet  factory  in  the  dull  old  town  of  Hemp- 
stead.  He  had  only  put  his  property  into  good 
and  salable  condition,  and  sold  it  as  soon  as  he 
could  find  a  purchaser.  He  had  now  a  moderate 
capital  and  was  able  to  make  a  beginning  in  the 
grocery  business  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It 
was  a  time  of  financial  prostration  and  distress 
the  world  over,  and  there  was  small  prospect  for 
success  against  the  competition  which  struggled 
hungrily  for  all  the  trade  offering.  No  direct 
success  was  won,  but  the  very  articles  he  bought 
and  sold  brought  their  own  suggestions  to  the 
mind  of  Peter  Cooper.  As  he  handled  them, 
from  day  to  day,  he  acquired  knowledge  to 
which  ideas  of  improvement  at  once  attached. 
Defective  qualities  and  prices  which  hindered 
consumption  seemed  to  call  for  better  sources  of 
supply  and  improved  methods  of  manufacture. 
A  series  of  exceedingly  valuable  ideas,  therefore, 
may  be  regarded  as  the  net  profits  of  the  grocery 
business,  at  the  date  when  Mr.  Cooper  went  out 
of  it. 

On    the    old    "  Middle    Road,"    away   out   of 


270  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

town,  as  the  town  was  then,  and  between 
Thirty -first  and  Thirty  -  fourth  Streets,  as  it  is 
now,  there  was  a  piece  of  land  that  was  held  on 
a  "  twenty-one  years'  lease."  It  was  obtained 
upon  easy  terms,  and  a  moderate  beginning 
was  made  of  a  factory  for  improved  glue 
and  other  matters,  including  isinglass,  oil,  whit- 
ing, and  prepared  chalk.  To  each  product 
and  to  all  the  details  of  its  manufacture  Mr. 
Cooper  brought  the  peculiar  acuteness  of  per- 
ception or  invention,  which  continually  enabled 
him  to  control  the  market  by  the  quality  of  the 
goods  he  presented.  During  a  long  period  of 
patient  effort  he  actually  did  present  them  to 
customers  in  person,  but  such  a  business  was  sure 
to  grow,  and  his  day  of  prosperity  finally  came. 
The  old  lease  expired  and  the  land  returned  to 
its  owner ;  but  that  had  been  expected.  Ten 
acres  on  Maspeth  Avenue,  Brooklyn,  had  been 
purchased,  and  here  the  factory  was  set  up,  to  re- 
main till  the  present  day,  with  its  many  improve- 
ments within  and  without. 

If  the  numerous  exhibitions  of  mental  readi- 
ness to  meet  the  demands  of  the  glue  business 
appeared  to  be  all  within  old  lines,  the  next 
venture  went  widely  out  beyond  them,  for  Mr. 
Cooper  had  been  studying  the  condition  and 
prospects  of  American  iron  mining  and  manu- 
facture, with  whatever  other  industries  were 
nearly  related  to  them.  The  corporate  limits  of 
the  city  of  Baltimore  extended  over  a  wide 
area,  much  of  which  was  apparently  beyond  all 
prospect  of  "  city  "  development.  In  1828,  there- 


PETER   COOPER 


271 


fore,  Mr.  Cooper  was 
able  to  obtain  control 
of  not  less  than  three 
thousand  acres  within 
the  municipality.  It 
was  not  intended  for 
residences,  but  as  the 
eastern  depot  and 
workshop  of  the  coal 
and  iron  field,  about 
to  be  reached  by  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio 
Railroad,  then  build- 
ing. It  was  a  remark- 
able instance  of  busi- 
ness forecast,  but  it 
was  accompanied  by 
a  yet  more  remark- 
able  exhibition  of 
mechanical  and  in- 
ventive genius.  The 
science  of  railway 
construction  was  in 
its  earliest  infancy, 
and  there  were  no 
railway  engineers 
such  as  would  now 
be  intrusted  with  the 
varied  problems  of  a 
proposed  route.  The 
road  which  was  to 
connect  the  iron 
mines  and  the  West 


272  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

with  Baltimore  must  be  constructed  through 
a  rugged  region  where  the  probable  cost  per 
mile  threatened  the  enterprise  with  bankrupt- 
cy. Between  high  grades  or  deep  and  costly 
cuts,  on  the  one  hand,  and  short  levels,  sharp 
curves,  and  difficult  running,  on  the  other,  the 
entire  undertaking  seemed  a  foredoomed  fail- 
ure. Something  like  disaster  would,  indeed, 
have  befallen  it  if  it  had  not  been  for  Peter 
Cooper,  who  was  busily  erecting  and  perfecting 
the  Canton  Iron  Works  upon  his  Baltimore 
acres.  He  had  intended  to  manufacture  steam 
engines  there,  and  he  had  devised  new  ones 
better  adapted  to  American  roads  than  were  any 
as  yet  attainable.  From  his  own  plans,  and  em- 
bodying his  own  perception  of  what  was  needed, 
he  now  constructed  the  first  locomotive  ever 
made  in  the  United  States.  It  was  a  complete 
success,  and  it  saved  the  railway  enterprise,  for 
it  made  the  zigzag  track  available.  At  the  same 
time,  however,  the  future  prosperity  of  the  Can- 
ton Iron  Works  was  assured.  Not  that  Mr. 
Cooper  remained  in  Baltimore  to  manage  them, 
however,  for  he  sold  the  works,  taking  a  large 
part  of  his  pay  in  shares,  at  a  nominal  value  of 
$44,  to  hold  until  they  were  finally  sold  at  $230. 
There  was,  as  he  perceived,  another  important 
iron  centre  at  New  York,  and  here  he  erected 
works  for  the  manufacture  of  wire  and  other 
products,  but  at  every  step  he  discovered  or  ap- 
plied some  new  idea.  Perhaps  the  most  impor- 
tant of  all  was  the  first  success,  in  the  Cooper 
works,  after  numberless  failures  elsewhere,  in 


PETER   COOPER 


273 


the  use  of  anthracite  coal  for  puddling  purposes. 
It  rendered  available  many  an  otherwise  useless 
mountain  of  both  coal  and  iron.  The  inventions 

brought  to  him  were  in- 
deed numerous,  and  the 
experiments  were  end- 
less, but  there  was  some- 
thing to  be  learned  often 
from  failures,  while  ideas 
that  were  crude  when 
brought  to  Mr.  Cooper 
were  likely  to  develop 

Peter  Cooper's  Locomotive,   1829.  . 

all   the   value    in    them 

under  his  inspection.  It  was  a  matter  of 
course,  perhaps,  that  a  successful  iron-master 
should  reach  out  into  New  Jersey,  and,  in  1845, 
at  Phillipsburg,  N.  J.,  near  Easton,  Pa.,  Mr. 
Cooper  built  three  blast-furnaces,  the  largest 
then  in  the  country,  purchased  the  Andover 
mines,  and  built  eight  miles  of  connecting  rail- 
way. Other  men  were  building  furnaces  here 
and  there,  and  rolling-mills,  but  Mr.  Cooper  was 
also  investigating  the  important  subject  of  fire- 
proof buildings  and  the  substitution  of  iron 
beams  and  girders  and  other  work  for  wood.  At 
his  works,  therefore,  the  first  examples  of  the 
new  building  materials  were  made,  and  a  vast 
amount  of  architecture  was  provided  for  that 
was  otherwise  impracticable. 

During  all  these  years  the  busy  mind  of  Mr. 
Cooper  did  not  content  itself  with  the  manage- 
ment of  his  private  business.  He  took  a  warm 

interest  in  local  politics,  so  far  as  these  in  any 

18 


274  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

way  related  to  any  manner  of  improvement.  The 
old  pumps  and  wells  which  during  so  many 
generations  had  supplied  the  people  of  New 
York  with  water,  were  manifestly  insufficient 
either  for  the  present  or  the  future.  The  city 
was  almost  at  the  mercy  of  fires.  Its  means  for 
quenching  thirst  threatened  to  become  a  source 
and  propagator  of  disease.  Its  manufacturers 
had  before  them  an  impassable  barrier  at  the 
point  where  their  water  was  measured  for  them. 

North  of  Manhattan  Island,  on  the  Westchester 
mainland,  there  were  pure  streams  and  lakes 
among  the  hills,  and  if  these  could  be  utilized 
the  problem  would  be  solved. 

There  were  not  only  engineering  difficulties  in 
the  way,  but  legislative  obstacles  and  slow  stu- 
pidities that  now  seem  hardly  credible.  To  the 
entire  subject,  in  all  its  parts  and  shapes,  a  vast 
amount  of  intelligent  attention  was  given  by  the 
iron-master  and  factory-owner,  who  seemed  to 
have  less  time  than  other  men  for  any  business 
but  his  own.  He  was  memorably  prominent 
among  the  public-spirited  citizens  who  had  so 
hard  a  struggle  in  carrying  to  success  the  plans 
for  the  Croton  aqueduct  and  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  novel  idea,  to  New  Yorkers,  of  "  a 
spring  in  every  house." 

Parallel  with  the  efforts  to  obtain  pure  and 
plentiful  water,  another  work  went  on,  with  re- 
sults which  must  be  eternal.  The  city  was 
swarming  with  children  for  whom  no  suitable 
means  of  obtaining  even  a  primary  education  were 
provided.  The  heart  of  a  man  whose  own  boy- 


PETER  COOPER  275 

hood  had  been  even  less  aided  went  out  to  them. 
A  society  for  the  promotion  of  public  schools 
was  organized,  with  Peter  Cooper  as  one  of  its 
trustees  and  most  vigorous  working  members. 
The  attention  of  the  association  was  first  given 
to  the  existing  schools,  such  as  they  were,  and  to 
the  study  of  better  developed  systems  in  opera- 
tion elsewhere.  Adequate  legislation  was  then 
obtained  for  the  foundation  upon  which  the 
New  York  school  system  of  the  present  day  was 
to  be  built  up  through  successive  advances. 
Mr.  Cooper's  ceaseless  activity  at  every  stage  of 
the  tedious  movement  made  it  almost  a  matter 
of  course  that  he  should  be  named  as  one  of 
the  city's  first  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Public 
Schools.  Thenceforward,  there  was  a  great  deal 
of  what  might  almost  be  described  as  inven- 
tion to  be  performed  before  the  boys  and  girls 
were  endowed  with  the  educational  advantages  • 
they  required,  but  which  had  not  been  within 
the  reach  of  the  first  generation  after  the  Revo- 
lution. 

It  was  in  the  direct  line  of  his  efforts  for  the 
attainment  of  these  results,  and  of  other  munici- 
pal reforms,  that  Mr.  Cooper  was  first  elected 
a  Councilman,  and  then  an  Alderman,  as  his 
grandfather  had  been  in  the  old  Colonial  times. 
It  was  as  if  the  record  of  the  family  was  to  be 
inseparably  connected  with  that  of  the  city 
itself,  but  yet  another  memorial  was  in  a  process 
of  inventive  creation.  It  was  one  to  the  last 
degree  expressive  of  the  character  of  the  man 
who  devised  it.  It  was  simply  impossible  for 


276  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

him  to  take  hold  of  a  piece  of  mechanism,  hardly 
of  a  manufactured  article,  without  searching 
for,  if  not  always  finding,  a  suggestion  of  some- 
thing new.  His  study  of  and  work  for  the  gen- 
eral school  system  led  him  to  plan  an  institu- 
tion which  differed  in  many  respects  from  any 
other,  but  which  promised  to  supply  a  want 
that  he  perceived  and  the  nature  of  which  was 
illustrated  by  his  own  experience.  At  every  step 
of  his  career  he  had  felt  his  lack,  not  only  of  com- 
mon-school but  also  of  technical  education,  such 
as  the  great  mass  does  not  absolutely  require, 
however  much  they  might  profit  by  it,  but  such 
as  would  greatly  enhance  the  usefulness  of 
those  whose  natural  faculties  and  primary  at- 
tainments prepared  them  for  its  reception.  Year 
after  year  he  pondered  the  idea  of  the  school 
he  was  inventing.  He  carefully  sifted  its  objects 
and  its  methods  for  accomplishing  them,  and  a 
clear  perception  of  the  future  growth  of  the  city's 
population  was  shown  in  his  choice  of  a  locality. 
He  bought  the  piece  of  land  bounded  by  Third 
and  Fourth  Avenues,  Eighth  Street  and  Astor 
Place.  Here,  in  1854,  was  laid  the  corner-stone 
of  the  Cooper  Union  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science  and  Art.  Five  years  later  the  com- 
pleted building  was  transferred,  in  fee  simple,  to 
a  board  of  trustees,  and  with  it  a  broad,  liberal, 
well-endowed  plan  for  the  perpetual  education 
of  the  young  of  both  sexes,  through  the  eye,  the 
ear,  and  the  imagination,  "in  all  branches  of 
knowledge  through  which  men  and  women  earn 
their  bread." 


PETER  COOPER  277 

There  were  to  be  schools  in  art  and  design, 
free  lectures,  free  reading-rooms,  collections  of 
works  in  art  and  science,  and  a  continual  growth 
and  addition  of  required  appliances.  So  well 
was  the  original  invention  thought  out  that  each 
succeeding  year  has  testified  to  its  practical 
utility.  Its  cost,  with  improvements,  exceeds 
three-quarters  of  a  million  of  dollars.  It  has  a 
further  endowment  of  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  with  a  good  income  from  parts  of  the 
building  rented  for  business  purposes.  So  long 
as  he  lived,  its  founder  watched  its  working  with 
the  keen,  critical  eye  of  a  master-machinist 
studying  an  experimental  engine  and  enthusiastic 
over  its  performance. 

At  an  earlier  day,  in  1854,  yet  another  great 
problem  of  the  future  was  brought  to  his  atten- 
tion. His  next-door  neighbor  was  a  gentleman 
named  Field,  a  retired  paper  manufacturer,  lately 
returned  from  a  long  tour  in  South  America. 
One  evening  Mr.  Field  came  in  and  laid  before 
his  friend  a  remarkable  scheme  which  he  h^d 
devised  for  laying  a  telegraphic  cable  from 
America  to  Europe,  across  the  oozy  bed  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  Anything  better  suited  to  the 
genius  of  Mr.  Cooper  could  hardly  have  been 
proposed,  for  the  magnitude  of  the  adventure 
was  hardly  taken  into  consideration.  It  could 
be  done,  it  was  wonderfully  well  worth  doing, 
and  therefore  it  must  be  attempted.  The  idea 
was  by  no  means  new,  but  he  and  Mr.  Field  be- 
tween them  invented  new  means  for  its  accom- 
plishment. Only  three  other  men  were  called 


278  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

in  to  organize  the  New  York,  Newfoundland  & 
London  Telegraph  Company,  with  Peter  Cooper 
as  its  president  and  Cyrus  W.  Field  as  its  right 
arm  and  hero.  There  were  great  difficulties  to 
be  overcome  at  the  outset.  A  brief  apparent 
success  was  then  won,  to  be  followed  by  failure 
and  by  twelve  long  years  of  weary  waiting,  but 
of  continual  endeavor.  Mr.  Cooper's  faith  and 
courage  did  not  waver,  but  he  hopefully  sus- 
tained his  heroic  neighbor  until  at  last  a  final  and 
permanent  victory  was  obtained,  with  the  same 
president  as  at  first  still  at  the  head  of  the  com- 
pany. 

Mr.  Cooper  was  now  growing  old  and  a  large 
part  of  his  business  had  been  turned  over  to  his 
son,  Edward,  and  his  son-in-law,  Abram  S.  Hewitt, 
two  abundantly  capable  business  men.  They  were 
a  relief  in  one  direction,  that  endless  activities 
might  go  on  in  others.  There  was  a  long  list  of 
societies,  charitable  mainly,  in  which  Mr.  Cooper 
was  trustee  and  general  adviser  as  well  as  a 
liberal-handed  contributor.  No  man  ever  knew 
how  much  money  went  out  through  these  chan- 
nels or  in  multiplied  helps  and  givings  of  every 
name  and  nature.  Besides  the  regular  perform- 
ance of  so  many  trusteeships  there  was  a  demand 
which  would  not  be  denied.  Mr.  Cooper  was, 
by  a  general  acknowledgment,  the  "  first  citizen  " 
of  the  municipality  he  had  served  so  well.  He 
was  not  a  politician,  but  any  public  meeting  of  a 
general  nature,  of  public  trouble,  or  of  popular 
rejoicing  was  hardly  complete  without  him  upon 
the  platform,  and  his  entrance  was  sure  to  be 


PETER  COOPER  279 

recognized  by  a  round  of  applause.  The  plain, 
old-fashioned  buggy  in  which  he  drove  around 
the  city  was  a  chariot  before  which  all  other 
vehicles  turned  out.  The  children  all  grew  up 
to  know  him  and  to  reverence  his  good,  gray 
head,  and  the  long  evening  of  his  busy  life  was 
spent  in  honor  and  in  peace. 

There  was  one  small  political  episode  in  1876. 
Mr.  Cooper  had  given  attention  to  some  phases 
of  the  currency  question,  and  had  even  printed 
pamphlets  setting  forth  his  own  ideas  of  im- 
provements upon  the  existing  system,  which  on 
several  occasions  had  failed  to  work  well  and 
was  manifestly  insufficient.  Other  men  who 
were  also  busy  with  the  subject  organized  what 
was  called  the  Greenback  party,  with  a  view 
to  a  more  liberal  issue  of  paper  currency,  and 
they  named  him  as  their  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency. They  gave  him  about  a  hundred  thou- 
sand votes,  but  they  were  really  not  an  organized 
political  party,  and  it  was  only  an  expression  of 
opinion  upon  one  subject. 

The  end  of  the  long,  useful,  honorable  life 
came  on  the  4th  of  April,  1883.  From  every 
quarter  came  tokens  of  the  deep  respect  in  which 
Mr.  Cooper  had  been  held,  but  not  all  the  votes 
of  societies  or  of  financial  and  commercial  insti- 
tutions were  so  high  a  tribute  as  were  the 
earnest  words  which  were  uttered  in  the  hasty 
gatherings  of  the  working  men  and  women  who 
came  to  their  places  of  meeting,  as  if  by  com- 
mon consent,  to  say  how  strong  a  hold  he  had 
won  upon  the  popular  affection.  More  than  any 


280  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

other  living  man,  they  had  regarded  him  as  their 
friend.  He  had  indeed  done  much  for  them  and 
for  all  his  fellow-citizens  of  whatever  name.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  point  out  among  the  busi- 
ness men  of  America  another  success  so  com- 
plete at  every  point.  That  it  was  so  was  in  very 
large  part  owing  to  the  one  controlling  element 
of  his  character;  to  his  irresistible  tendency 
to  attempt  the  improvement  of  anything  and 
everything,  process  or  substance,  mechanical  de- 
vice or  human  being,  that  came  within  the  wide 
horizon  of  his  observation. 

Years  after  he  ceased  to  be  seen  in  the  places 
which  so  long  had  known  him,  the  grateful 
memory  in  which  he  is  held  proposed  to  express 
itself  in  a  suitable  monument,  the  funds  for  which 
were  provided  by  spontaneous  popular  subscrip- 
tion. It  is  designed  and  executed  by  the  sculp- 
tor St.  Gaudens,  himself  a  pupil  of  the  Cooper 
Union.  The  model  is  finished  and  the  completed 
work  will  shortly  be  set  up,  as  a  visible,  tangible 
representative  of  the  better  monument  —  the 
kindliness  and  the  honor  with  which  all  Ameri- 
can men  and  women  speak  of  Peter  Cooper. 


Marshal!   Field. 


XV. 

MARSHALL  FIELD. 

THERE  is  a  certain  subtle  enemy  of  business 
success  which  has  proved  itself  difficult  of  analy- 
sis. In  attempts  to  search  out  the  causes  of 
innumerable  failures,  the  vast  waste  of  the  long- 
credit  system  has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated, 
but  has  been  set  down  as  an  inseparable  factor 
of  the  cost  of  our  commercial  transactions.  With 
equal  fulness  have  many  writers  explained  the 
contractional  losses  which  have  been  the  sure 
consequences  of  all  artificial  inflations  of  what- 
soever kind.  In  any  further  search  for  a  formu- 
lation of  the  principles  essential  to  success,  per- 
haps no  more  can  be  learned  than  by  a  scrutiny 
of  the  business  life  of  such  successful  men  as 
have  firmly  refused  to  bear  the  burdens  or  take 
the  risks  which  were  assumed  by  the  majority  of 
their  competitors,  successful  or  otherwise.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  former  will  bear  comparison, 
if  not  in  number,  at  least  in  character  and 
achievement,  with  the  most  brilliant  commercial 
records,  in  the  making  of  which  other  methods 
have  operated.  Beyond  a  doubt  it  may  be 
added  that  each  of  the  classes  indicated  calls 
for  or  develops  its  appropriate  business  genius. 
The  course  of  action  which  seems  entirely  natural 


282  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

for  one  man  appears  to  be  almost  beyond  the 
comprehension  of  another. 

The  dry-goods  establishment  which  is,  at  this 
day,  doing  the  largest  general  business  in  the 
United  States,  is  not  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  but 
in  Chicago.  It  has  the  great  West  for  its  market, 
and  with  reference  to  this,  it  is  more  centrally 
located  than  it  could  be  elsewhere.  The  lakes, 
the  rivers,  the  continually  expanding  railway 
system  seem  to  have  agreed  together  to  make 
their  headquarters  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan. 
Even  with  reference  to  importations  from  be 
yond  the  Atlantic,  there  is  offered  a  somewhat 
striking  commentary  upon  the  dry  remark  at- 
tributed to  an  enthusiastic  Western  man : 

"  New  York  ?  Yes,  sir.  Flourishing  town, 
sir.  Has  a  fine  future  before  it.  New  York  is 
the  seaport  of  Chicago !  " 

The  house  which  seems  to  have  best  availed 
itself  of  the  advantages  offered  by  this  pivot- 
point  of  distribution  is  that  of  Marshall  Field 
&  Co.  It  has  been  managed,  through  a  long 
series  of  years,  upon  distinctly  formulated  busi- 
ness principles,  rigidly  adhered  to,  through  good 
report  and  bad  report.  While  it  has  been  served 
from  its  beginning  by  a  number  of  rarely  capable 
men,  any  analysis  of  its  success  is  rendered  more 
easily  attainable  from  the  fact  that  its  guiding 
spirit,  its  somewhat  autocratic,  unyielding  mana- 
ger, has  not  been  changed.  Its  course,  therefore, 
has  been  exceptionally  uniform,  and  so,  through 
stormy  times  and  quiet  times,  has  been  its  solid- 
ity. The  variations  in  its  profit  and  loss  account 


MARSHALL  FIELD  283 

have  at  no  time  been  traceable  to  any  defect  in 
the  working  of  its  machinery. 

Marshall  Field  was  born,  in  1835,  near  Conway, 
Mass.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  in  only  moder- 
ate circumstances,  but  able  to  give  his  son  at  least 
the  advantage  of  a  thorough  home  training  in 
habits  of  industry  and  sound  morals.  Added 
to  this  were  good  public  schools  and  the  Con- 
way  Academy.  It  was  about  as  hopeful  a  be- 
ginning as  a  boy  could  have,  if  he  were  capable 
of  profiting  by  it. 

The  boy  days  of  a  New  England  farmer's  boy 
are  apt  to  be  bright  and  healthy  days,  with 
"  chores  "  enough  to  do,  but  with  a  great  deal  to 
awaken  the  adventurous  spirit  which,  through 
several  generations,  has  all  but  stripped  the 
Eastern  States  of  their  energetic  youths  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Western. 

Young  Field  was  of  a  somewhat  quiet  and 
thoughtful  disposition,  but  he  was  not  fond  of 
books.  Neither  did  he  take  to  agriculture,  nor 
to  any  profession,  for  he  was  and  felt  himself  to 
be  a  born  merchant. 

Conway  was  a  very  pretty  place,  but  it  was 
very  small,  even  for  a  beginner,  and  when,  at 
seventeen,  Marshall  Field  was  permitted  to  set 
out  upon  his  chosen  career,  he  went  as  far  as 
Pittsfield,  Mass.,  a  thriving  business  centre,  and 
obtained  employment  in  what  may  be  described 
as  a  "  country  store."  It  was  a  good  place  to 
learn  in,  but  no  more,  for  any  considerable  suc- 
cess would  have  been  larger  than  the  town  itself. 
At  the  end  of  four  years,  therefore,  little  more 


284  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

had  been  attained  than  legal  age,  general  in- 
formation, business  training,  and  a  determina- 
tion to  go  West,  with  Chicago  as  the  point 
selected  for  settlement. 

Here,  in  1856,  Mr.  Field  became  a  salesman  in 
the  wholesale  dry  goods  house  of  Cooley,  Far- 
well  &  Co.  It  was  already  a  flourishing  concern, 
but  the  business  interests  of  Chicago  had  trials 
and  changes  before  them.  The  city  itself  Avas  in 
what  might  be  called  its  boyhood.  Its  streets 
and  the  buildings  lining  them  were  in  process  of 
lifting  up  to  the  new  grade,  which  would  per- 
mit the  construction  of  adequate  sewers,  water 
conduits,  gas  mains,  etc.  All  had  been,  at  first, 
upon  the  prairie  level.  The  wharves  along 
the  lake-shore,  the  bridges,  hotels,  were  in 
a  changing  state,  and  getting  from  place  to 
place  by  the  sidewalks  was  an  intermittent  get- 
ting up  and  down  stairs.  The  railway  system 
centring  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan  was  in  its 
infancy,  and  the  vast  region  it  was  yet  to  con- 
nect with  a  great  city  was  but  opening  to  culti- 
vation. Only  a  few  miles  beyond  the  corpo- 
rate limits  were  wide  reaches  of  bare  prairie 
yet  untouched  by  the  plough.  In  financial  mat- 
ters there  were  endless  causes  of  perplexity.  A 
tide  of  immigration  was  setting  Westward  and 
the  future  seemed  assured,  but  the  very  newness 
of  all  rural  communities  and  settlements,  larger 
or  smaller,  rendered  a  knowledge  of  local  sol- 
vencies impossible.  Still,  it  was  what  was  called 
"flush  times,"  but  with  strong  symptoms  of 
coming  trouble.  The  old  State  banking  system 


MARSHALL  FIELD  285 

prevailed  and  the  currency  of  each  State,  as  to 
exchangeable  values,  was  a  problem  by  itself 
which  interfered  seriously  with  all  mercantile 
transactions.  Crops  were  increasing,  year  by 
year,  almost  in  excess  of  facilities  for  handling 
them.  Speculation  of  every  kind  was  rampant, 
especially  in  real  estate.  Almost  everybody  was 
heavily  in  debt,  and  the  credit  of  Western  houses 
was  subjected  to  sharp  yet  unavailing  scrutiny 
at  the  East,  for  there  also  the  general  condition 
was  perilous  in  the  extreme.  It  was  upon  this 
semi-chaotic  state  of  affairs  that  the  great  panic 
of  1857  burst  like  a  hurricane.  It  seemed  as  if 
everything  had  been  swept  away.  The  banks 
and  business  houses  closed  their  doors,  and  even 
those  who  expected  to  open  them  again  were 
forced  to  sit  still  until  the  storm  was  over.  The 
streets  of  Chicago  swarmed  with  men  out  of 
employment,  but  no  real  injury  had  been  done 
to  its  prosperity.  Only  an  unwholesome,  fever- 
ish, unbusinesslike  growth  had  disappeared, 
leaving  the  field  clear  for  legitimate  operations 
followed  by  financial  security. 

The  house  of  Cooley,  Farwell  &  Co.  was  one 
of  the  not  very  large  number  which  survived 
the  panic  in  good  condition.  It  was  even  able 
to  take  up  business  which  fell  from  the  hands  of 
broken  concerns;  but  one  of  its  best  salesmen 
had  learned  an  important  lesson  at  the  outset  of 
his  Western  career.  He  had  been  compelled  to 
understand  the  nature  of  new  country  growth, 
and  to  study  the  science  of  credit  as  applied  to 
such  rapidly  changing  conditions.  He  had  al- 


286  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

ready  made  his  mark  as  a  young  man  of  unusual 
promise.  During  the  three  years  following  he 
rose  rapidly  in  the  esteem  of  the  firm,  became  a 
necessity,  and  in  1860  he  was  admitted  to  a  jun- 
ior partnership.  The  financial  disturbances  of 
1 86 1  were  probably  less  severe  in  the  West  than 
in  the  East,  but  they  supplied  a  number  of  impor- 
tant object-lessons  upon  the  general  subject,  the 
solution  of  which  gave  Mr.  Field  the  main  idea 
of  his  subsequent  career.  Then  followed  the 
remaining  years  of  the  civil  war,  with  the  swell- 
ing volume  of  greenbacks,  national  bank-notes, 
and  State  and  national  indebtedness,  which  again 
produced  exorbitant  inflations  in  nominal  values, 
speculation,  extravagance,  "  flush  times,"  exceed- 
ing any  which  had  preceded. 

The  business  of  the  house  grew  rapidly,  but 
there  came  a  necessity  for  a  complete  reorgani- 
zation in  1865.  The  impression  made  and  the 
success  attained  by  Mr.  Field,  up  to  this  date, 
may  be  understood  from  the  fact  that  he  stepped 
at  once  to  the  head  of  the  new  house  of  Field, 
Palmer  &  Leiter.  Only  two  years  later  other 
business  interests  led  to  the  withdrawal  of  Mr. 
Potter  Palmer,  and  the  name  of  the  house  was 
changed  to  Field,  Leiter  &  Co.,  with  a  more  per- 
fect illustration  of  the  "  one-man  power  "  at  the 
head  of  it. 

The  flush  times  following  the  war  were  now  at 
their  height.  The  West  was  filling  up,  State 
after  State,  Territory  beyond  Territory,  with 
astonishing  advances.  The  growth  of  the  rail- 
ways and  of  the  commerce  of  the  lakes  was 


MARSHALL  FIELD  287 

something  magical  and  bewildering.  Successive 
crop  figures  challenged  belief.  The  business  of 
Chicago  was  as  if  done  at  red  heat,  and  the  com- 
petition for  it  was  almost  tumultuous.  It  was  a 
time  when  a  man  in  charge  of  enormous  pur- 
chases and  sales  might  easily  have  yielded  to  the 
strong  stimulus  of  trade  which  excited  the  great 
mass.  It  was  the  severest  possible  test  which 
could  be  applied  to  a  business  character.  But  as 
the  heat  around  him  increased,  Mr.  Field  was 
cooler  than  ever.  Some  said  "  harder."  He 
certainly  was  inflexible  in  maintaining  the  prin- 
ciples and  perfecting  the  system  which  to  his 
mind  offered  the  one  promise  of  permanent  suc- 
cess. 

What  these  were  may  be  vaguely  outlined  as 
the  adoption  of  the  "  cash  "  system,  with  a  not 
illiberal  interpretation  of  its  meaning. 

Goods  sold  to  customers  of  sufficiently  ascer- 
tained solvency,  and  not  in  amounts  exceeding 
their  requirements  or  capacity,  were  "  cash  "  at 
thirty  and  sixty  days,  and  payments  were  sternly 
exacted  with  absolute  promptness.  The  cus- 
tomers themselves  became  more  prudent  men, 
with  the  certainty  of  so  near  and  so  sharp  a  set- 
tlement. Their  own  sales  were  sure  to  be  more 
carefully  made  and  their  credits  shorter.  Mr. 
Field's  exactness  was  therefore  a  powerful  con- 
servative agency  throughout  the  widening  area 
of  his  business  relations. 

On  the  purchasing  side  of  the  account  the 
principle  involved  was  applied  much  more  rig- 
idly, for  Mr.  Field  decided  not  to  have  any  Ha- 


288  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

bilities.  Such  credits  as  he  permitted  were 
purely  nominal,  covering  little  more  than  the 
time  required  for  transfer  and  delivery  of  goods 
purchased.  No  purchase  was  to  be  made  which 
would  call  for  a  note,  a  promise  to  pay,  and  no 
note  of  his  was  at  any  time  to  be  found  in  a  bank. 
So  buying  for  cash,  moreover,  a  varying  but  im- 
portant margin  of  advantage  in  prices  paid  was 
sure  to  be  obtained.  The  best  bargains  came  to 
the  readiest  payments  as  naturally  as  water  runs 
down  hill. 

It  was  a  matter  of  course  that  a  man  so  guid- 
ing his  affairs  should  keep  out  of  the  speculative 
stock  market,  so  far  as  dealing  "  on  a  margin  " 
might  be  concerned.  Shares  bought  for  cash,  as 
investments,  involved  no  liability,  whatever  their 
subsequent  history  of  profits  or  losses.  Pre- 
cisely so  with  the  real  estate  operations  continu- 
ally offering  in  so  tempting  a  manner  as  the  city 
and  the  country  grew.  At  the  earliest  possible 
day  there  was  no  mortgage  upon  any  property 
owned  by  Mr.  Field. 

In  close  alliance  with  the  cash  system  of  pur- 
chases, there  was  to  be  maintained  an  exacting 
scrutiny  of  the  quality  of  all  goods  purchased. 
No  allurement  of  proposed  profit  was  to  induce 
the  house  to  place  upon  the  market  any  line  of 
goods  at  a  shade  of  variation  from  their  intrinsic 
value.  Every  article  sold  must  be  regarded  as 
warranted,  and  every  purchaser  must  be  enabled 
to  feel  secure. 

That  such  a  system,  pursued  with  unrelenting, 
machine-like  precision,  would  call  out  carping 


MARSHALL  FIELD 

criticism  was  to  be  expected,  and  a  great  deal  of 
comment  came.  So  did  the  customers,  attracted 
by  the  fairness  of  the  prices  and  the  soundness 
of  the  goods  offered,  even  if  they  grumbled  at 
the  refusal  of  credits  such  as  other  houses  gave 
or  they  might  deem  themselves  entitled  to. 

The  next  great  test  to  which  Mr.  Field's  busi- 
ness capacity  was  subjected  was  sufficiently  se- 
vere, but  it  did  not  come  by  way  of  a  financial 
panic.  There  was  no  question  of  shorter  or 
longer  credits  raised,  but  an  enormous  mass  of 
property  passed  suddenly  out  of  existence. 
Stock  on  hand,  business  appliances  of  all  kinds, 
the  commodious  building  itself,  disappeared  in 
the  great  Chicago  fire  of  1871.  The  magnitude 
of  the  transactions  of  the  house  at  that  date  may 
be  imagined  from  the  sum  total  of  the  fire  losses, 
for  these  footed  up  over  three  and  a  half  millions 
of  dollars.  So  prudent  a  man  as  Mr.  Field 
had  by  no  means  neglected  insurance.  He  was 
indeed  fully  protected  but  for  the  fact  that  so 
many  insurance  companies  were  wiped  out,  as 
by  a  sponge,  by  their  overwhelming  disaster. 
From  solvent  companies,  in  due  season,  the  firm 
recovered  two  and  a  half  millions,  but  only  a 
fraction  of  this  was  speedily  available. 

The  city  itself  seemed  almost  to  have  disap- 
peared. Buyers  coming  to  Chicago  for  goods 
would  find,  it  was  said,  only  a  blackened  waste, 
which  would  require  long  years  to  refit  for  busi- 
ness purposes.  The  entire  country  sent  sym- 
pathy and  help,  and  the  citizens  of  Chicago  faced 
their  difficulties  with  admirable  courage,  but 
19 


290  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

none  did  so  with  more  imperturbable  calmness 
than  was  exhibited  by  the  head  of  the  burned-up 
dry-goods  house. 

No  buildings  of  brick  or  stone  were  left  stand- 
ing, suitable  for  his  purposes,  but  at  the  corner 
of  State  and  Twentieth  Streets  were  some  great 
shells  of  horse-car  barns  untouched  by  the  fire. 
The  clouds  of  smoke  were  still  going  up  from 
the  burned  district  when  Mr.  Field  hired  these 
barns  and  began  to  fit  them  up  for  the  wholesale 
and  retail  dry -goods  business.  At  the  same 
time  gangs  of  men  were  at  work  clearing  away 
the  ruins  of  the  old  place,  that  a  better  building 
than  the  former  might  be  put  up  as  speedily  as 
possible.  It  was  pushed  to  completion  with  all 
energy  and  was  taken  possession  of  in  1872. 

The  new  city,  built  after  the  fire,  was  in  many 
respects  improved.  One  of  the  business  changes 
in  the  house  of  Field,  Leiter  &  Co.  was  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  retail  trade  from  the  wholesale. 
For  the  latter  a  building  was  at  once  erected  at 
the  corner  of  Madison  and  Market  Streets. 
This  department  expanded  to  such  proportions, 
however,  that  in  1885,  to  be  finished  in  1887,  an- 
other and  really  splendid  business  building  was 
begun,  occupying  an  entire  square  of  ground, 
bounded  by  Fifth  Avenue,  Quincy,  Franklin,  and 
Adams  Streets.  It  is  of  granite  and  sandstone, 
and  its  plain  but  substantial-looking  exterior  is 
darkened  by  bituminous  coal  smoke,  but  its  in- 
terior arrangements  are  hardly  surpassed,  for 
extent  and  facilities  for  business,  by  any  other 
similar  structure  in  the  world.  The  va~t  variety 


MARSHALL  FIELD  291 

of  the  demands  of  the  trade  to  be  supplied  com- 
pels the  keeping  on  hand  continually  of  an  enor- 
mous stock,  but  to  many  observers  the  most 
interesting  consideration,  in  any  study  of  it, 
would  be  the  simple  fact  that  it  is  all  paid  for. 
To  this,  as  the  swarms  of  buyers  for  rural  dis- 
tributions come  and  go,  might  well  be  added  the 
other  important  fact,  that  as  it  is  sent  out  to 
hundreds  of  minor  establishments  all  over  the 
Western  country,  it  will  all  be  again  paid  for 
within  sixty  days,  for  the  losses  by  Mr.  Field's 
plan  have  been  reduced  to  an  unimportant  figure. 

Only  two  years  after  the  fire  came  the  sweep- 
ing panic  of  1873,  but  it  passed  over  the  Chicago 
"  cash  "  dry-goods  concern  with  but  small  injury, 
while  "  long-credit  houses "  and  such  as  were 
under  varied  "  liabilities  "  went  down  in  all  di- 
rections. There  could  be  no  question  raised  as 
to  the  solvency  of  a  concern  which  had  no  debts. 

In  1 88 1  Mr.  Leiter  withdrew,  and  the  style  of 
the  firm  changed,  as  at  present,  to  Marshall  Field 
&  Co.  It  consists  of  its  former  head  and  eight 
juniors,  all  of  the  latter  having  been  brought  up 
in  the  house.  Like  Mr.  Field  himself,  not  one  of 
them  brought  in  any  outside  capital  and  they  are 
themselves  a  vitally  important  part  of  his  busi- 
ness ideal.  However  large  may  be  the  amount 
of  cash  employed,  it  is  regarded  as  but  an  instru- 
mentality. The  men  are  the  real  capital  of  the 
concern.  No  partners  of  another  kind  have  at 
any  time  been  desired,  and  Mr.  Field's  rare  judg- 
ment of  character  has  been  finely  illustrated  by 
his  selection  and  advancement  of  those  who, 


292  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

under  him,  were  to  command  in  the  several  de- 
partments of  the  concern,  as  brigadiers  and 
colonels  under  a  major-general.  Each,  in  his 
place,  holds  it  by  reason  of  merit,  for  there  has 
been  no  favoritism.  The  same  faculty  of  dis- 
cernment and  a  like  process  of  selection  have  se- 
cured the  most  efficient  assistants,  women  as 
well  as  men,  in  all  the  grades  of  the  more  than 
four  thousand  persons  on  the  pay-rolls  of  the 
house.  It  is  noteworthy  that  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  them  may  be  classed  as  educated  as  well 
as  intelligent,  and  that  continued  employment 
by  Marshall  Field  &  Co.  is  regarded  by  other 
houses  as  a  test  of  fitness,  a  recommendation. 
The  present  heads  of  more  than  one  flourishing 
establishment,  not  to  speak  of  partners  and 
otherwise  prosperous  men,  owe  their  present 
positions  to  this  stamp  of  approval.  It  may 
seem  strange  to  those  accustomed  to  different 
methods,  that  the  list  of  employees  includes  no 
"  drummers,"  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word, 
although  sales  are  made  as  far  south  as  the  Gulf 
and  as  far  west  as  the  Pacific  Coast.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  "  buyers  "  are  a  large  as  well  as 
a  carefully  picked  company  of  sharp-shooters. 
While  many  of  them  are  constantly  on  the  watch 
among  the  importers  and  manufacturers  of  the 
Atlantic  slope,  not  less  than  thirty  go  annually  to 
Europe,  and  some  of  them  even  further,  for  all 
the  looms  of  the  earth  send  contributions  to  the 
counters  of  the  Chicago  bazaar.  For  example, 
in  1892  four  experts  visited  Japan,  to  see  what 
they  could  find  in  the  very  farthest  East. 


MARSHALL  FIELD  293 

Twenty  years  ago  it  was  deemed  a  startling 
assertion  that  Field,  Leiter  &  Co.  had  sold,  in 
one  year,  over  $8,000,000  worth  of  goods.  The 
increase,  at  the  present  day,  is  to  nearly  five- 
fold, or  $40,000,000. 

That  the  sales  have  been  profitable,  even  at 
low  prices  and  liberal  expenditure,  is  partly 
known  by  the  fact  that  Mr.  Field's  own  real 
estate  in  Chicago  is  valued  at  $10,000,000, 
and  by  his  very  large  holdings  of  railway, 
palace-car,  steel  and  iron  stocks.  The  business 
itself,  however,  is  his  greatest  success,  rather 
than  any  wealth  accruing  from  it,  for  he  has  con- 
structed an  enormous  mechanism  for  the  pur- 
chase and  sale,  collection  and  distribution  of 
textile  and  related  fabrics,  at  the  smallest  pos- 
sible percentage  of  financial  risk,  waste,  or  loss. 
He  has  so  organized  this  mechanism,  largely 
consisting  of  human  characters,  selected  and 
educated  and  all  directed  by  himself,  that  it 
works  from  day  to  day  and  from  year  to  year, 
in  all  parts  of  the  earth,  but  everywhere  in  rela- 
tion to  the  centre  at  Chicago,  with  a  smoothness 
and  uniformity  which  is  one  of  the  marvels  of 
the  world's  trade.  He  has  accomplished  a  tri- 
umph of  system  and  of  rigidly  applied  principles 
and  has  presented  a  model  well  worthy  the  close 
study  of  even  political  economists. 

It  would  seem  almost  unnecessary  to  paint  a 
portrait  of  such  a  business  man,  and  Mr.  Field 
is  precisely  the  person  thoughtful  people  would 
expect.  Not  over  the  medium  height  and  some- 
what spare  but  active  looking,  as  becomes  a  man 


294  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

whose  habits  have  been  correct  from  boyhood. 
Reserved  and  yet  approachable  and  kindly  in 
manner  to  any  person  having  any  business  to 
encroach  upon  his  time.  In  social  life  he  is  quiet 
and  modest  in  his  tastes  and  goes  little  into  so- 
ciety. He  has  given  much  to  charity.  Though  a 
Presbyterian,  he  was  one  of  the  heaviest  contrib- 
utors to  the  Baptist  University  fund.  Setting  an 
example  of  steady  devotion  to  business,  now  as  in 
his  younger  days.  While  his  tastes  are  altogether 
those  of  a  refined  and  educated  man,  he  is  not 
inclined  to  display  of  any  kind.  He  is  a  steady 
churchgoer,  but  has  always  been  averse  to  poli- 
tics, beyond  the  regular  performance  of  any 
duties  belonging  to  him  as  a  private  citizen. 
He  is  a  member  of  clubs  and  enjoys  occasionally 
meeting  in  them  his  friends  and  acquaintances. 
In  fact,  his  personal  character  may  be  taken  as 
in  a  manner  representative  of  and  belonging  to 
the  steadfast  idea  of  his  business  life.  This,  at 
any  point,  sets  forth  the  inestimable  value  of 
correct  principles,  and  of  these  the  first  to  be 
named  is  absolute  integrity. 


XVI. 
LELAND  STANFORD. 

THE  territory  included  within  the  present 
boundaries  of  the  United  States  was  at  one  time 
nominally  ruled  by  three  great  European  pow- 
ers— England,  France,  and  Spain  ;  really,  by  Ind- 
ian tribes  and  by  a  vast  wilderness  full  of  ob- 
stacles to  civilized  occupation.  The  successive 
steps,  in  diplomacy  or  in  war,  by  which  the  en- 
tire area  has  been  placed  under  one  flag,  have 
been  made  under  the  direction  of  a  series  of  re- 
markable men,  of  whom  it  may  be  said  that 
their  energy  in  any  required  action  was  only 
equalled  by  their  far-sighted  sagacity  in  counsel. 
The  difficulties,  physical  or  political,  with  which 
they  contended,  were  seemingly  insurmountable. 
There  was  no  wilder  dream  of  the  future  ever 
set  before  the  minds  of  men  than  the  creation 
and  welding  into  unity  of  this  republic.  If  it 
should  be  said  that  the  course  of  all  human 
events  worked  with  them — the  convulsions  of 
Europe  and  Asia;  the  introduction  of  steam- 
power  and  electricity  ;  the  very  uplifting  of  the 
human  race  to  higher  planes  of  thought  and 
purpose — then  only  the  higher  estimate  is  called 
for  by  the  characters  of  the  men  who  were  able 
to  handle  and  control  the  new  forces  which  were 


296  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

operating    among  such   vastnesses  of   new   ma- 
terials. 

The  study  of  the  careers  of  these  strong  men 
is  intensely  interesting,  and  it  is  none  the  less 
so  because  in  every  case  it  appears  that  the 
powers  born  in  them  received  their  develop- 
ment in  long  struggles  with  the  ordinary  obsta- 
cles besetting  other  men.  Their  athletic  train- 
ing-school was  the  common  battlefield  of  life. 

The  latest  addition  to  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  came  at  the  close  of  the  war  with 
Mexico.  Prior  to  that  the  Columbia  River 
country  had  been  a  far-away  possession  con- 
cerning which  the  nation  took  but  moderate  in- 
terest, but  it  suddenly  seemed  nearer  and  of 
greater  value  when  the  coast-line  drew  south- 
ward to  the  Gulf  Of  California  and  the  future 
commerce  of  the  Pacific  passed  under  American 
control  with  the  ownership  of  the  harbor  of  San 
Francisco. 

The  fierce  excitement  of  the  "  gold  fever  "  fol- 
lowed at  once,  and  the  California  part  of  the 
regions  acquired  from  Mexico  was  peopled  rap- 
idly. It  was  done,  however,  in  a  manner  which 
seemed  to  create  a  new  State,  unique  in  charac- 
ter, separated  from  the  other  States  by  long  dis- 
tances and  the  central  mountain  ranges,  with  in- 
terests of  its  own  which  might  never  t>e  brought 
into  unified  relations  with  those  of  the  older 
commonwealths  of  the  Atlantic  slope,  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Our 
statesmen  and  politicians  were  already  busy 
with  the  perilous  problems  of  division  even 


Leland   Stanford. 


LELAND  STANFORD  299 

among  these,  which  were  so  soon  to  be  settled  by 
the  bloody  arbitration  of  the  civil  war.  The 
future  of  the  country,  therefore,  required  that 
the  management  of  all  questions  relating  to  the 
Pacific  Coast  should  be  in  hands  not  only  patri- 
otic but  competent,  and  no  one  east  of  the  moun- 
tains could  so  much  as  guess  how  statesmen  were 
to  be  provided  for  California.  Ample  provision 
had  been  made,  nevertheless,  and  one  man  who 
was  to  hold  a  foremost  position,  as  the  trusted 
counsellor  of  other  men,  had  begun  in  his  very 
childhood  his  long,  hard  training  for  successful 
leadership.  As  early  as  the  year  1720  a  family 
named  Stanford,  of  English  extraction,  had 
made  a  home  among  the  sturdy  Dutchmen  who 
were  the  first  settlers  of  the  Mohawk  Valley. 
Matrimonial  alliances  followed,  and  succeed- 
ing generations  inherited  the  rugged  strength 
of  mind  and  body  belonging  to  such  a  parent- 
age. One  hundred  years  after  the  first  Stanford 
crossed  the  Hudson,  one  of  his  descendants  was 
a  prosperous  but  very  hard-working  farmer,  liv- 
ing near  Watervliet,  about  eight  miles  from  Al- 
bany. He  had  six  sons,  and  one  of  them,  whom 
he  named  Leland,  that  name  being  in  the  family, 
was  born  March  g,  1824. 

From  his  very  cradle,  Leland  was  a  vigorous 
fellow,  and  he  had  need  to  be,  among  a  group  of 
brothers  and  other  playfellows,  every  one  of 
whom  was  hardy  and  healthful  even  to  rough- 
ness. The  home  they  were  brought  up  in,  how- 
ever, was  marked  by  rigid  moral  training,  and 
their  mental  discipline  began  early,  as  well  as 


300  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

their  practical  lessons  in  industry.  They  had 
been  born  into  a  work-a-day  world,  they  were 
made  to  discover,  and  in  the  part  of  it  near 
Watervliet  there  were  plenty  of  chores  for  boys 
to  do  and  schools  to  attend,  but  there  was  no 
pocket-money. 

The  customary  wages  for  grown  men  were 
but  "  two  shillings,"  or  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  per 
day,  for  the  prices  of  farm  produce  were  largely 
governed  by  the  cost  of  "  slooping"  it  down  the 
Hudson. 

Something  could  be  done  by  a  boy  speculator, 
however.  When  Leland  was  only  six  years  old 
the  home  garden  was  found  to  be  overrun  with 
horseradish,  to  the  detriment  of  everything 
else.  He  and  two  of  his  brothers  were  set  to 
work  digging  it  up,  and  when  their  hard  task 
was  done,  they  carefully  washed  the  pile  of 
roots,  carried  them  all  the  way  to  Schenectady, 
and  sold  them  for  six  shillings.  Leland's  third 
of  that  first  financial  success,  as  he  afterward 
declared,  gave  him  more  pride  and  pleasure 
than  many  a  large  harvest  of  money  garnered  in 
later  years.  It  had  its  lasting  influence,  more- 
over, and  there  were  other  boyish  enterprises  to 
follow.  One  of  these  came  when  he  was  eight 
years  old.  It  had  been  a  good  year  for  chest- 
nuts, and  the  Leland  boys  had  taken  advantage 
of  it  from  the  first  frost  that  cracked  the  burrs 
and  set  the  nuts  dropping.  They  stored  away 
bins  and  bags  of  them,  and  one  day  a  hired-man 
of  their  father's  returned  from  Albany  with  the 
welcome  news  that  the  price  of  chestnuts  was 


LELAND  STANFORD  301 

high.  Off  to  market  hurried  the  boys,  and  their 
autumn  days  in  the  woods  resulted  in  a  cash 
profit  of  $25. 

Mr.  Stanford  appears  to  have  encouraged  his 
sons  systematically  in  every  effort  to  bring  out 
their  business  capacity,  while  he  gave  them  such 
other  schooling  as  circumstances  permitted. 
Like  most  other  farm-boys  of  that  day,  how- 
ever, it  was  school  in  winter  and  work  on  the 
farm  in  summer,  with  terms  at  the  village  acad- 
emy after  they  had  gone  through  the  highest 
classes  at  the  "  district  school." 

Leland  Stanford  was  looking  forward  am- 
bitiously to  a  higher  education  and  to  the  study 
of  law,  but  the  family  finances  did  not  permit 
the  idea  of  a  college  course.  He  could  make  the 
best  possible  use  of  the  academy  and  of  all  ob- 
tainable books,  but  even  then  there  seemed  a 
wall  of  difficulty  between  him  and  his  proposed 
legal  studies.  He  had  grown  tall  and  strong,  and 
was  a  capital  hand  in  a  hay-field,  behind  a  plough, 
or  with  an  axe  in  the  timber  ;  but  how  could  this 
help  him  into  his  chosen  profession?  Neverthe- 
less, it  was  a  feat  of  wood-chopping  which  raised 
him  to  the  bar.  When  he  was  eighteen  years  of 
age,  his  father  purchased  a  tract  of  woodland, 
wished  to  clear  it,  but  had  not  the  means  for 
doing  so.  At  the  same  time  he  was  anxious  to 
give  his  son  a  lift.  He  told  Leland,  therefore, 
that  he  could  have  all  he  could  make  from  the 
timber,  if  he  would  leave  the  land  clear  of  trees. 
Leland  took  the  offer,  for  a  new  market  had  lat- 
terly been  created  for  cordwood.  He  had  saved 


302  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

money  enough  to  hire  other  choppers  to  help  him, 
and  he  chopped  for  the  law  and  for  his  future 
career.  Over  two  thousand  cords  of  wood  were 
cut  and  sold  to  the  Mohawk  &  Hudson  River 
Railroad,  and  the  net  profit  to  the  young  con- 
tractor was  $2,600.  It  had  been  earned  by 
severe  toil,  in  cold  and  heat,  and  it  stood  for 
something  more  than  dollars. 

How  long  it  required  in  the  doing  is  not 
recorded,  but  a  further  course  of  preparatory 
studies  followed,  and  it  was  not  until  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  1846  that  he  went  to  Albany 
and  entered  the  law  office  of  Wheaton,  Doolittle 
&  Hadley  as  a  student.  Three  years  later,  in 
1849,  ne  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  of  the  Sta-te 
Supreme  Court.  His  first  long  struggle  had 
ended  in  apparent  success,  but  Albany  was  over- 
crowded with  young  lawyers,  and  there  was 
nothing  to  be  gained  by  remaining  there.  The 
right  thing  to  do  was  to  go  West,  and  he  still 
had  funds  sufficient  to  sustain  him  while  build- 
ing the  foundations  of  a  practice  in  some  new 
and  growing  community.  In  the  same  year, 
1849,  three  of  his  brothers  went  to  California, 
with  the  first  rush  of  adventurers,  and  engaged 
in  the  general  business  of  furnishing  supplies 
to  the  miners.  Perhaps  there  was  an  especial 
reason  why  Leland  did  not  go  with  them.  The 
Pacific  Coast  did  not  seem  exactly  the  place  to 
make  a  home  in,  but  he  was  just  then  thinking, 
and  somebody  else  was  waiting  for  a  home. 

His  first    purpose  was  to  settle  in    Chicago, 
then  in  what  has  been  called  the  "  swamp  stage  " 


LELAND  STANFORD  303 

of  its  earlier  growth,  and  it  is  said  the  abundance 
and  fierceness  of  the  mosquitoes  did  more  than 
anything  else  to  prevent  him.  He  could  have 
endured  them  himself,  but  it  seemed  better  to 
go  on  to  another  place.  He  found  a  promising 
opening  at  Port  Washington,  on  Lake  Michi- 
gan, above  Milwaukee.  Business  came  to  him 
at  once,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  went 
back  to  Albany  and  married  Miss  Jane  Lathrop, 
daughter  of  a  prosperous  merchant  named  Dyer 
Lathrop. 

The  professional  career,  for  which  so  much  toil 
and  preparation  had  been  given,  had  opened 
very  well  indeed.  He  even  began  to  think  of 
politics,  and  took  a  leading  part  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a  local  newspaper.  He  was  not  to  make 
his  home  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  how- 
ever, nor  to  do  his  life-work  in  the  Northwest, 
for  he  was  needed  elsewhere.  His  house,  with 
his  office,  law  library,  and  other  property,  were 
destroyed  by  fire,  and  he  was  left  almost  a  bank- 
rupt. Now,  however,  the  Golden  State  held  out 
to  him  a  better  invitation  than  at  first.  His 
brothers  were  doing  well  there,  and  the  signs  of 
social  order  were  increasing  rapidly.  The  ruins 
of  his  first  undertaking  were  therefore  left  be- 
hind him,  and  he  and  his  wife  reached  Sacra- 
mento on  July  12,  1852. 

Any  idea  of  a  professional  life,  however,  had 
been  burned  up  with  his  law  library,  and  he  be- 
came a  merchant,  taking  charge  for  his  brothers 
of  their  branch  establishment  at  Michigan  Bluffs, 
in  Placer  County. 


304  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

He  had  made  a  great  change  in  all  his  plans  of 
life,  but  so  had  every  other  man  who  was  seek- 
ing a  fortune  in  California.  The  circumstances 
were  altogether  different  from  those  of  an  older 
community.  Swarms  of  men  who  were  stran- 
gers to  each  other  were  ready  to  accept,  almost 
as  an  old  acquaintance,  the  burly,  hearty,  genial 
young  merchant  from  whom  they  made  pur- 
chases and  heard  the  news  as  they  came  in  from 
the  placers.  His  personal  popularity  became  a 
powerful  element  of  business  success,  and  all  the 
more  so  because  it  was  discovered  that  he  pos- 
sessed uncommon  sagacity  and  that  any  kind  of 
advice  from  him  was  pretty  safe  to  follow.  The 
man  to  whom  other  men  habitually  come  for 
advice  is  sure  to  acquire  the  subtle,  inscrutable 
force  recognized  rather  than  named  as  "  influ- 
ence." 

The  other  Stanford  brothers  were  men  of  en- 
terprise and  capacity,  and  their  business  connec- 
tions widened  until  they  reached  in  every  direc- 
tion among  the  almost  grotesquely  developing 
communities  of  the  new  State.  They  were  not 
long  in  learning,  however,  that  the  best  head 
among  them  was  on  the  shoulders  of  Leland, 
and,  in  1856,  he  was  called  upon  to  remove  to 
Sacramento,  with  a  full  share  in  the  interests  of 
the  concern.  He  had  made,  in  the  meantime, 
profitable  mining  adventures  which  gave  him 
private  capital  at  his  own  disposal.  He  had  done 
something  of  much  greater  importance  also,  for 
he  had  taken  a  deep  interest  in  political  matters, 
and  he  had  comprehended,  better  than  other 


LELAND  STANFORD 


305 


men,    the    tremendous    nature   of  the   questions 
which  were  soon  to  press  for  settlement. 

A  very  large  part  of  the  adventurous  migra- 
tion to  California  had  come  from  the  slavehold- 
ing  States.  There  were  no  abler  nor  more  dar- 
ing men,  and  they  had  brought  with  them  their 
peculiar  political  doctrines  and  ideas  concerning 
State  rights  and  the  slavery  question.  Each  suc- 


Architectural  motif  of  the  buildings  at  Stanford  University. 

cessive  political  campaign  grew  hotter,  as  the 
restless  spirits  of  the  Pacific  Coast  emulated  the 
rashness  and  repeated  the  utterances  which  were 
producing  such  a  perilous  fermentation  among 
the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States. 

Strong  local  coteries  were  forming,  in  which  it 
was  openly  declared  that  if  the  South  should  se- 
cede from  the  Union,  so  would  California,  or  at 
least  its  southern  half,  with  slavery  as  an  institu- 
tion, and  the  old  republic  might  split  into  all 
20 


306  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

the  pieces  vaguely  indicated  by  its  climate  and 
geography. 

Mr.  Stanford,  now  in  the  prime  of  his  man- 
hood, grasped  the  entire  situation  with  a  breadth 
of  thought  and  a  courage  of  action  which  brought 
him  at  once  to  the  front  as  an  acknowledged 
leader.  He  saw  distinctly  that  there  were  two 
great  agencies,  neither  of  them  yet  in  existence, 
for  the  prevention  of  the  vast  calamities  which 
threatened  the  future  of  the  nation  and  of  Cali- 
fornia. One,  already  organizing  in  1856,  was  the 
new  Republican  party.  The  other,  in  like  man- 
ner outlined  but  not  yet  made,  was  the  proposed 
railway  line  across  the  continent,  bringing  its  too 
widely  separated  parts  together.  To  each  of 
what  he  deemed  parallel  and  related  move- 
ments he  gave  all  the  energy  that  he  could 
spare  from  his  increasing  business  affairs,  until 
these  had  almost  to  be  put  aside  on  behalf  of  the 
greater  burdens  which  came  fast  upon  him. 

The  new  party  prospered  well  in  the  Presi- 
dential campaign  of  1856,  in  California,  with 
many  incidents  which  were  dramatic  and  some 
that  were  tragical,  and  from  that  time  onward  it 
gathered  strength  from  day  to  day.  So  did  the 
railway  enterprise,  and  a  group  of  strong  men, 
unsurpassed  in  genius,  patriotism,  and  daring, 
stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Mr.  Stanford. 

In  April,  1859,  tne  State  Legislature  passed  a 
resolution  calling  for  a  railway  men's  conven- 
tion, to  meet  in  San  Francisco  in  September  of 
that  year.  When  it  came  together  it  consisted 
of  delegates  from  every  part  of  the  State  and 


LELAND  STANFORD  307 

from  Oregon  and  Washington  Territories.  Every 
feature  of  the  project  was  fully  discussed  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  present  to  Congress 
a  memorial,  indicating  the  route  preferred  and 
asking  for  national  aid  in  the  construction  of  a 
road  to  meet  the  proposed  railway  from  the  East 
at  a  point  on  the  California  line.  During  the  re- 
mainder of  that  year  the  entire  Pacific  railway 
idea  was  almost  constantly  before  Congress,  and 
it  had  become  a  prominent  factor  of  current 
party  politics.  These  were  becoming  more  and 
more  feverish,  for  there  was  something  like  a 
civil  war  in  Kansas,  and  the  clouds  of  coming 
trouble  were  darkening  for  a  storm. 

When  the  Republican  National  Convention 
met  at  Chicago,  in  1860,  Leland  Stanford  was 
there,  as  a  delegate  from  his  own  State,  urging 
the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  prefer- 
ence to  any  other  man.  He  returned  to  throw 
himself  into  the  canvass  with  enthusiasm,  but  at 
the  same  time  to  push  forward  more  eagerly 
than  ever  the  work  of  preparation  for  what  he 
regarded  as  the  Union  railway,  more  important 
than  an  army  corps. 

In  the  spring  of  1861,  while  the  opposing 
armies  were  gathering  in  the  East,  a  meeting 
was  held  at  the  St.  Charles  Hotel,  Sacramento,  at 
which  only  the  leaders  of  the  railway  enterprise 
were  present.  The  work  before  them  related  to 
surveys,  legislation,  and  finance.  It  was  deter- 
mined that  efficiency  could  be  best  obtained  by 
concentration  and  unity  of  action.  On  the  28th 
of  June  the  Central  Pacific,  Railroad  Company 


308  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

of  California  was  organized  under  the  State  law, 
with  a  nominal  capital  of  $8,500,000.  Enough 
was  subscribed,  and  enough  money  was  paid  in 
to  meet  immediate  expenses.  Mr.  Stanford  was 
chosen  president;  Collis  P.  Huntington,  vice- 
president  ;  Mark  Hopkins,  treasurer ;  James 
Bailey,  secretary,  and  T.  J.  Judah,  chief  engi- 
neer. These  were  also  directors,  with  Charles 
B.  Crocker,  John  F.  Morse,  D.  W.  Strong,  and 
Charles  Marsh. 

The  simple  fact  that  such  men  selected  Mr. 
Stanford  for  the  executive  head  of  the  undertak- 
ing renders  comment  superfluous.  They  knew 
him  well,  and  their  verdict  may  be  accepted  as 
final  concerning  his  relations  to  them  and  to  the 
seemingly  impossible  task  before  them.  They 
presented  him  to  Congress  and  the  nation  as 
their  representative,  and  through  all  the  long, 
arduous  struggle  which  followed  he  more  than 
justified  the  wisdom  of  their  choice. 

The  difficulties  to  be  overcome  were  manifold, 
for  there  were  all  sorts  of  mountains  in  the  way. 
It  was  true  that  President  Lincoln,  the  Republi- 
can party,  and  so  the  National  Government,  were 
pledged  to  the  idea  of  a  Pacific  railway,  but  then 
the  Government  itself  was  fighting  for  life  and 
its  finances  were  in  an  exceedingly  strained  con- 
dition. The  four  men,  including  Mr.  D.  O.  Mills, 
who  were  to  bear  the  responsibility  of  success  or 
failure,  had  indeed  been  very  successful  in  busi- 
ness, but  their  cash  capital  free  for  use  was  by 
no  means  large,  and  they  were  but  little  known 
in  the  money  markets  of  the  East. 


LELAND  STANFORD  309 

The  first  shovelful  of  dirt  on  the  line  of  the 
proposed  road  was  thrown  by  Mr.  Stanford  him- 
self February  22,  1861,  before  the  organization 
of  the  company.  Surveys  and  work  went  on  and 
continual  payments  were  made,  in  faith  and  in 
hope,  but  it  was  not  until  July,  1862,  that  Mr. 
Judah  returned  from  Washington  with  the  for- 
mal proposition  for  the  construction  of  the  road, 
authorized  by  Congress.  Its  provisions  were 
exacting,  but  they  were  accepted  by  the  com- 
pany December  i,  1862.  Two  years  were  given 
them  for  building  the  first  fifty  miles  of  road,  but 
forty  miles  were  to  be  constructed  and  equipped, 
telegraph  line  and  all,  before  the  issue  of  gov- 
ernment bonds  in  aid.  These  were  to  be  loaned 
to  the  company  at  the  rate  of  $16,000  per  mile  to 
the  foot  of  the  mountains  and  $48,000  per  mile 
through  them.  That  first  forty  miles  offered  a  se- 
vere test  of  all  the  capacity  of  every  kind  pos- 
sessed by  the  adventurers.  The  toil  was  cease- 
less, and  the  anxiety  almost  prevented  sleep. 
Even  after  that  success  was  won  and  the  aid 
came,  it  was  not  always  easy  to  realize  upon 
construction  bonds,  while  the  Treasury  itself 
could  with  difficulty  obtain  funds  to  pay  and  feed 
the  army  in  the  field. 

Whatever  credit  is  due  to  Mr.  Stanford's  asso- 
ciates, he  himself  superintended  the  construction 
of  five  hundred  and  thirty  miles  of  railroad  in  two 
hundred  and  ninety-three  days.  It  was  a  build- 
ing-race against  a  very  similar  party  of  men 
who  were  pushing  forward  the  rails  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Road  from  the  East.  On  the  last  day  of 


View  of  the   Buildings  Comprising  the  Leland 

the  race,  Mr.  Charles  B.  Crocker,  in  immediate 
charge  of  the  work,  laid  the  rails  upon  ten  miles 
of  track,  and  the  last  spike  was  driven  at  Pro- 
montory Point,  Utah,  May  10, 1869.  Mr.  Crocker 
himself  never  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the 
terrific  strain  which  he  endured,  although  he 
lived  till  1888,  but  Mr.  Hopkins  died  in  1876,  and 
it  is  said  that  all  the  other  managers  looked  back 
upon  that  race  as  an  ordeal  which  took  some- 
what of  life  out  of  them. 

Mr.  Stanford  had  by  no  means  neglected  the 
other  field  of  his  public  duty,  for  he  had  taken  a 
firmer  hold  upon  the  politics  of  California.  He 
at  first  refused  any  suggestion  of  office-holding, 
but  in  1862  accepted  the  Republican  nomination 
for  Governor  of  the  State  and  was  elected  by  a 
plurality  of  twenty-three  thousand  votes.  At 
the  close  of  his  term  he  refused  a  renomination, 
for  the  war  for  the  Union  was  practically  won  and 
the  railway  demanded  his  undivided  attention. 

With  the  year  1869  began  a  long  era  of  almost 


Stanford,   jr.,   University,    Palo  Alto,    California. 


ideal  prosperity.  There  was  a  continual  press- 
ure of  work  and  responsibility,  for  Mr.  Stanford 
was  still  president  of  the  Central  Pacific  and  was 
interested  in  other  enterprises,  railway  and  fi- 
nancial, but  he  was  now  able  to  take  from  these 
ample  time  for  home  life  and  for  the  gratification 
of  very  strongly  marked  tastes  and  tendencies. 

His  home  itself  became  a  kind  of  special  con- 
tribution to  the  peculiar  agricultural  interests  of 
California.  He  owned  the  Palo  Alto  ranch,  in 
Tahama  County,  about  thirty  miles  south  of  San 
Francisco,  one  of  the  best  and  largest  ranches  in 
the  State.  Here  he  had  built  a  villa  residence 
of  much  architectural  beauty,  with  ample  and 
well  laid-out  grounds,  and  supplied  with  all  that 
wealth  could  obtain  for  comfort,  as  well  as  with 
treasures  of  art  and  literature. 

As  the  home  of  such  a  man,  it  became  an  ob- 
jective point  in  the  plans  of  numberless  distin- 
guished people  visiting  California.  It  was  the 
very  abode  of  cordial  hospitality,  but  the  estate 


312  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

itself  became  something  more.  At  a  very  early 
day  Mr.  Stanford  had  taken  a  sagacious  inter- 
est in  two,  at  least,  of  the  most  promising  feat- 
ures of  Pacific-slope  farming.  One  was  the 
peculiar  advantages  of  both  soil  and  climate  for 
fruit  raising,  and  the  Palo  Alto  ranch  became 
an  experimental  fruit  farm  on  a  large  scale. 
Hardly  anything  was  left  untried,  but  special 
attention  was  paid  to  the  vine,  with  such  success 
that  in  due  time  the  largest  vineyard  in  the 
world  was  proving  by  its  abundant  productive- 
ness the  wisdom  of  its  owner.  In  the  year  1888 
it  contained  3,575  acres  and  the  vines  in  bear- 
ing numbered  2,860,000.  At  least  an  equal 
importance  attached  in  Mr.  Stanford's  mind 
to  what  some  men  called  his  other  hobby.  He 
had  perceived  that  the  breed  of  horses  pro- 
duced in  California,  from  whatever  derivation, 
was  assuming  a  pronounced  type,  with  indica- 
tions of  peculiar  value.  Every  other  part  of  the 
earth  presents  the  same  evidence  of  the  tendency 
and  capacity  of  man's  best  four-footed  com- 
panion to  adapt  himself  to  his  circumstances, 
but  Mr.  Stanford  proposed  to  aid  and  guide  the 
process  manifestly  going  on.  His  great  ranch, 
therefore,  contained,  in  lavish  provision  of  all 
appliances,  an  admirable  horse-breeding  farm, 
and  the  results  obtained  soon  made  it  famous. 

The  best  imported  stock  was  brought  from 
American  and  European  stables,  that  the  quali- 
ties of  all  might  be  blended  in  the  new  develop- 
ment. The  Stanford  stables  sent  out  a  long 
list  of  swift  and  beautiful  creatures,  whose  per- 


LELAND  STANFORD 


313 


formances,  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  the  West, 
were  a  source  of  unbounded  gratification  to  their 
breeder.  He  made  their  very  anatomical  struct- 
ure a  study,  with  reference  to  the  relations  of 
bone,  muscle,  and  tendon  to  the  movements  of 
bodies  and  limbs.  A  curious  series  of  experi- 
ments in  instantaneous  photography  enabled 
him  to  illustrate  effectively  his  ideas  and  obser- 


The   Inner   Quadrangle,    Stanford   University. 

vations  concerning  equine  action.  The  Palo 
Alto  ranch,  therefore,  became  a  kind  of  experi- 
mental school  in  several  important  departments 
of  investigation ;  but  an  increased  and  permanent 
educational  value  was  yet  to  attach  to  it. 

As  the  years  went  by,  the  exceedingly  busy 
life,  of  which  only  so  brief  an  outline  can  be 
given,  was  varied  by  various  tours  of  combined 
business  and  pleasure;  but  in  1884  Mr.  Stanford 
was  in  Europe.  With  him  were  his  wife  and 
their  only  son,  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.  The  latter 


314  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

was  a  young  man  who  seemed  to  have  inherited 
the  qualities  of  body  and  mind  and  character 
which  would  fit  him  for  the  management  of  the 
other  estate  which  would  some  day  pass  into 
his  hands.  He  was  the  heir,  and  his  father  and 
mother  looked  upon  him  as  the  continuation  of 
their  own  life.  At  Florence,  Italy,  however,  he 
was  smitten  by  the  deadly  fever  of  the  Roman 
coast,  and  in  a  few  days  they  were  childless. 

The  saddened  return  to  their  California  home 
at  once  presented  them  with  the  question, 
"  What  shall  be  done  with  all  these  millions, 
and  with  the  Palo  Alto  ranch  ? "  It  was 
answered  worthily.  Young  Stanford,  like  his 
father,  had  been  deeply  interested  in  the  general 
subject  of  both  technical  and  higher  education. 
Whatever  he  might  have  done  in  that  direction, 
if  he  had  lived,  should  now  be  done  in  his  name. 
His  parents,  therefore,  founded  Leland  Stanford, 
Jr.,  University,  endowing  it  with  the  ranch 
itself  and  with  other  property  of  an  estimated 
prospective  value  in  all  of  about  $20,000,000. 
The 'first  announcement,  in  1885,  was  met  with 
varied  expressions  of  strong  approval  and  of 
captious  doubt,  but  the  latter  ceased  when  the 
peculiar  character  of  the  proposed  institution 
came  to  be  generally  understood.  The  corner- 
stone of  the  university  buildings,  about  half  a 
mile  south  from  the  Stanford  residence  at  Palo 
Alto,  was  laid  May  14,  1887.  In  his  address  on 
this  occasion,  Mr.  Stanford  referred  to  the  ex- 
pressions of  dissent,  but  said,  for  himself  and  his 
wife  :  "  We  do  not  believe  there  can  be  superflu- 


LELAND  STANFORD 


315 


ous  education.  A  man  cannot  have  too  much 
health  and  intelligence,  so  he  cannot  be  too 
highly  educated."  His  meaning  became  clearer 
upon  an  examination  of  the  proposed  university 
course,  and  upon  finding  that  it  included  teleg- 


Northeast  Tower,  Stanford   University. 

raphy,  type  -  writing,  journalism,  book-keeping, 
farming,  civil-engineering,  and  the  general  prep- 
aration of  human  beings  for  success  and  useful- 
ness. As  was  roughly  expressed  by  one  critic, 
"  It  isn't  to  be  just  another  Greek  and  Latin 
mill." 

Two  years  later,  in  1887,  Mr.    Stanford  was 


310  MEN  OF  BUSINESS 

elected  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  from 
California.  From  that  time  forward,  during  the 
greater  part  of  each  year,  his  residence  was 
necessarily  in  Washington,  and  here  again  his 
home  became  a  social  centre,  noted  for  the  re- 
fined liberality  of  its  entertainments.  He  was 
as  cordial,  as  genial  as  ever,  and  he  was  accepted 
in  political  circles  as  the  man  whose  counsel  was 
of  greatest  weight  with  reference  to  all  ques- 
tions affecting  the  country  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  but  his  capacity  for  work  was  leav- 
ing him.  Year  after  year  there  were  increasing 
tokens  that  the  toils  and  anxieties  of  earlier  days 
had  made  hidden  inroads  upon  his  natural  vital- 
ity. The  best  medical  skill,  utter  temperance, 
changes  of  air  and  scene  were  of  no  avail  for 
the  restoration  of  forces  expended  in  the  per- 
formance of  such  a  vast  amount  of  exceedingly 
hard  work  and  endurance. 

At  the  close  of  the  session  of  Congress,  in  the 
spring  of  1893,  he  went  back  to  his  Palo  Alto 
home,  well  aware  that  he  should  never  return  to 
Washington.  It  was  entirely  characteristic  of 
the  man  that  when,  on  June  2oth,  as  the  clock 
hands  met  for  midnight,  he  quietly  passed  away, 
and  his  death  was  telegraphed  over  the  country, 
it  was  speedily  declared  of  him  that  all  his 
affairs  were  in  such  perfect  order  and  prepara- 
tion that  there  would  be  no  shock  nor  any  harm 
resulting  to  any  person,  or  interest,  or  enter- 
prise. He  left  a  very  large  estate,  truly,  but  the 
work  to  which  he  had  set  his  hands  was  done 
and  he  could  safely  leave  it. 


LELAND  STANFORD  317 

It  has  been  said  that  great  business  careers 
such  as  are  outlined  in  this  volume  are  no  lon- 
ger possible.  The  idea  presented  is,  that  in  the 
full  development  and  organization  of  trade  its 
managers  become  somewhat  like  conductors  of 
railway  trains  whose  finished  mechanism  runs 
smoothly  along  tracks  provided  for  them  by 
earlier  enterprise.  There  is  no  T-rail  track, 
with  perfect  bridges,  for  the  operations  of  Amer- 
ican business.  The  truth  is  fairly  presented  by 
an  army  in  the  field,  and  the  time  will  never 
come  for  a  cessation  in  the  demand  for  good 
generals. 

If  competition  itself  were  not  continually 
opening  channels  for  new  energy,  there  are  rap- 
idly recurring  times  of  trial  when  the  great 
problems  of  success  or  failure  are,  like  Abraham 
Lincoln  at  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  grop- 
ing around  among  unknown  men  for  the  cour- 
age and  capacity  fitted  to  lead  a  brigade,  a  di- 
vision, or  an  army  corps  to  something  better 
than  defeat.  The  best  men  will  surely  step  to 
the  front  if  they  are  at  hand  when  the  occasion 
calls  for  them.  The  occasions  are  innumerable, 
for  the  most  encouraging  truth,  after  all,  is  that 
sufficient  business  success  for  the  reward  of 
rational  ambition  is  within  the  reach  of  the 
million. 

THE    END. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 


m-8,'65(F6282s8)2373 


E176.S86 


^  3  2106  00056  9613 


